Athora Netherlands Annual Figures 2024

Strong financial results again, pension buy-outs contribute to commercial momentum Athora Netherlands has published its financial annual figures for 2024, and they are strong once again, with buy-outs contributing significantly to growth.

Financial Results

• Increase in Solvency II Operating Capital Generation (OCG) to €522 million (2023: €457 million) due to repositioning towards higher-yielding investments.
• Gross inflow increased by 32% to €3,531 million, compared to €2,682 million in 2023, thanks to multiple pension buy-outs, higher sales of immediate annuities/pensions, and an increase in inflow into defined contribution pension schemes.
• Operating result (before taxes) of €625 million (2023: €559 million) supported by higher investment returns.
• FRS net result of €507 million (FY2023: €863 million) largely driven by the positive Operating Result.

Solvency

•  Strong Solvency II ratio of 201% (YE2023: 206%) for Athora Netherlands N.V.
• The positive contribution of OCG and management actions were offset by capital distributions to shareholders of €310 million, investments, market influences, and regulatory changes.

Strategic Progress

• Most goals of our ‘Ambition 2025’ strategy were achieved a year earlier than planned. The focus now shifts to Future Fit to position ourselves for Horizon 2030.
• Successful completion of three pension buy-outs. Further promising transactions are underway.
• Management actions supported an 11% increase in the Solvency II ratio. This includes the benefits of changes in Athora Netherlands' capital structure implemented in June 2024.
• Start of quarterly capital distributions in March 2024 with a total distribution of €310 million in 2024.
• On June 30, 2024, retroactively effective from January 1, 2024, the entities SRLEV N.V. and Proteq Levensverzekeringen N.V. merged, further simplifying the legal structure of Athora Netherlands.
• In March 2024, a new Zwitserleven brand campaign was launched. It was well received and supported strong commercial momentum throughout the year.
• Successful execution of our digital strategy: launch of the new website and new customer portals.

Commercially, we saw a 32% increase in business volumes, supported by three new pension buy-outs, a larger market share in immediate annuities/pensions, and continued growth in the number of employers and participants.

With the new pension law (Wtp) in effect, we see increasing activity among pension funds considering transferring their existing obligations to an insurance company. We help them understand the consequences of this in a clear and customer-oriented manner.

As a pure pension and life insurance specialist, Athora Netherlands is very well positioned to capitalize on opportunities in this market. In 2024, the pension funds of Yara, Koopvaardij, and Pensura decided to transfer their pension obligations wholly or partially to Zwitserleven.

We also invested a lot of energy in informing and encouraging advisers and employers to prepare for the conversion of current pension contracts to Wtp-proof contracts. Further postponement of the conversion to the final implementation date could cause capacity issues for the sector.

We advocate for postponing the implementation date by one year to 2028 to alleviate capacity issues and ensure a smooth transition. The renewed Zwitserleven brand campaign was very successful. And we continue to invest in our portals to provide customers with a seamless experience.

We also successfully integrated WTW's PPI into the Zwitserleven PPI, creating a strong and scalable platform for further growth. One of the key elements of our strategy is increasing recurring investment income by repositioning part of our investment portfolio towards assets with better risk-return characteristics.

This allows us to offer attractive rates to our customers and has led to a further improvement in Operating Capital Generation (OCG) to €522 million in 2024. Our Solvency II ratio of 201% remained strong and stable compared to the end of 2023, with a positive contribution from OCG and management actions throughout the year. T

his enabled us to make investments to support future OCG growth and make four capital distributions to shareholders in 2024 totaling €310 million. Our strong capital position provides comfort to our customers and forms a solid platform to further develop our business.

As an institutional investor, we continue to have a real impact by making investments that are important for the transition to a sustainable society and economy. We participated in the capital increase of a fund focused on deep-tech investments in the Netherlands. At the end of 2024, total impact investments amounted to €5.7 billion, of which €3.4 billion in ESG bonds.

A lot of energy is being invested in further increasing transparency on sustainability issues to customers and other stakeholders. In addition to implementing the CSRD regulations, we launched a sustainability dashboard that allows our customers to track the sustainability profile of their savings in our portals.

Three years after the launch of our Ambition 2025 strategy, we have achieved most of our goals a year earlier than planned. The three pillars Growth, Operational Efficiency, and Capital & Investments were strong drivers of our significantly improved performance since 2021 and have laid a strong foundation on which we can build further.

The coming years offer numerous growth opportunities arising from the new pension law. For example, the buy-outs of various pension funds. But there are also pension funds that choose to transition to a flexible contract, where participants have the right to shop for a guaranteed insured pension scheme upon retirement. Another growth opportunity is that we expect certain companies to seize the moment of transition to offer an insured pension.

To maintain our success, we will enhance our efforts in customer experience, streamline processes, and leverage new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, supported by our outstanding teams. This approach ensures we remain Future Fit. I am very pleased with our achievements in 2024 and would like to express my gratitude to our customers and business partners for their continued trust.

Special thanks to our dedicated employees for their relentless support in transforming our company and to the Works Council for their constructive collaboration. I look forward to working with the teams to further establish Athora Netherlands as the leading provider of pension solutions in the Netherlands