Showing Foresight. Ight Shown

g icherung A S che Ver S Wiener Städti | eport 2011 r l A Annu ForeSight Showing AnnuAl report 2011 | Wiener StädtiSche VerSicherung Ag AnnuAl report 2011 | Wiener StädtiSche VerSicherung Ag Shown. ForeSight. ALWAYS There, WHERE YOU NEED US A Austria’s largest insurance network: 140 business offices, nine provincial headquarters, 102 approximately 2,000 advisors AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche highLights & ManageMent | CoMpAnY & StRATEGY | MAnAGeMENT REPORt 2011 | ANNUAl FInAnCIAl StATEMENTS 2011 A 1 AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche highLights 2011 eXCELLeNT RESULTS iN SPiTe OF DiFFicULT MArKeT SiTUATiON. profitability increased once again. Profit before taxes increased further. Combined ratio improved again to 95%. Security oriented investment a key factor in stability. Assekuranz Award Austria 2011, insurance award for “Business Class” commercial insurance. Mobile phone storm alert system for desired locations. Market leader in Austria. TV commercial receives 2011 Werbespot Award for advertising. AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche Editorial ShowiNg FOreSighT Offer the best security for every situation in life. We consider this to be our main duty at Wiener Städtische. Long-term security and the right advice are more important than ever in difficult economic times. We are a reliable partner for our customers, operating the greatest number of local advisory offices country-wide to offer optimal solutions, custom-tailored products and straightforward claims settle- ment. Wiener Städtische develops many innovations to meet its customer needs to provide for the future, and is always one step ahead, because to us “showing foresight” means taking social change seriously, working for reforms and changing our products and services to adapt to changes in living conditions. This is based on our long-term risk-conscious business policy that customers can rely on today and in the future in every life situation. As the number 1 in Austria, we have shown foresight for 187 years, day after day, in and throughout Austria. Robert Lasshofer Chairman of the Managing Board of Wiener Städtische AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche FOr A BeTTER overVieW A highLights & ManageMent Highlights 2 Showing foresight (editorial) 3 excellent profit performance (interview) 6 Wiener Städtische Managing Board 12 A day with the Managing Board 14 B cOMPANY & STrATEGY Key figures 22 leading in Austria 24 Vienna Insurance Group 26 Clear objectives and strategy 30 Skilled employees ensure success 34 Sustainable security 38 Carefree in all life situations 44 Campaigns with foresight 50 AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche B c MANAGEMeNT REPOrT 2011 Business development in 2011 54 Risk report 59 outlook 61 proposed distribution of profits 63 D ANNUAL FiNANCIAL STATeMeNTS 2011 Balance sheet 66 Income statement 72 notes 2011 79 Auditor’s report 105 Declaration by the Managing Board 107 Supervisory Board report 108 SERVICE provincial advisory boards 110 provincial head offices 113 Contact information and addresses 114 Glossary 123 AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche B 6 Wiener Städtische Ag Managing Board (l. to r.): Judit havasi, erich Leiß, general Manager robert Lasshofer, ralph Müller, christine Dornaus. AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche highLights & ManageMent | CoMpAnY & StRATEGY | MAnAGeMENT REPORt 2011 | ANNUAl FInAnCIAl StATEMENTS 2011 “... We can look bacK on A YeAr of eXcellent ProfiT Performance iN 2011 ...” A 7 An interview with the members of the Managing Board of Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG, General Manager Robert lasshofer, Christine Dornaus, Judit Havasi, erich leiß and Ralph Müller. Mr Lasshofer, 2011 was not a particularly Our premiums increased by close to 3% easy year for the economy in general, or for the non-motor vehicle class (i.e. prop- for the insurance industry. How did Wiener erty insurance without motor vehicle insur- Städtische do? ance). This was primarily because people are becoming considerably more serious Lasshofer: Wiener Städtische performed about providing for the future, also with re- extraordinarily well, in spite of the diffi- spect to their belongings. Insurance is be- cult environment. We increased our result ing increasingly used in this way to cover from ordinary activities to EUR 236 million, risks that require protection. This is the which is outstanding under the current case, for example, with catastrophe cover- economic conditions. We did, however, age, where we became the first mover by suffer a decline in premiums, mainly due offering appropriately designed supple- to single-premium life insurance. This was mentary modules. due to an increase in the tax lock-in period from ten to 15 years. Elderly people in par- Havasi: We recorded a 2.3% growth in ticular do not want to be locked-in for such health insurance in 2011. Some of the a long period of time. This is why we are products in this class were updated, and actively promoting a more realistic and, some even redesigned completely, all therefore, better solution. We were very while a very heated public debate was tak- successful in this product area in previ- ing place on our health care system and ous years, and were therefore all the more its funding. We introduced two health care strongly affected by the change in the law. products in 2011 that show once again that we are serious about our responsibility And how did the business perform in the to provide affordable insurance products. other classes? Given that people’s financial resources diminish as they age, we are now offering Leiß: We recorded growth in all other a supplementary variant of our special classes in 2011, in some cases consid- class health care insurance that reduces erable growth. There was a significant premiums by 25%, or even 50%, start- turnaround, for example, in motor vehicle ing at age 65. We are also a first mover in insurance. This was partly due to a con- private nursing care provision, which we siderable increase in new vehicle regis- introduced as a supplementary module trations last year – an increase of 8.4%. last year. We have also taken up this topic However, there was also a recovery in the in the public debate, as we feel the funding general discounting trend, for all policy gap is widening here. types, making the motor vehicle business more profitable again. Lasshofer: The same is true of pension provisions, where we are working to maintain AnnuAl RepoRt 2011 | WieNer STädtiSche government funding, and we feel that a reduce our combined ratio to 95% in 2011. similar funding should be provided for pri- One has to keep in mind, however, that the vate nursing care. When they think about reduction in claims figures for 2011 made private provisions for the future, people also it a year of very low losses. No natural ca- generally think of a combination of pension tastrophes occurred in our area of opera- and nursing care provisions. In our view, tions, which was good for our profits, but the government-sponsored old-age provi- does not mean that the risk of natural sion product should be improved by moving catastrophes is declining, and we never- in the direction of investments with a very theless recorded a few large claims by our small weighting on shares and, so, with a industrial customers. guaranteed interest rate. 2011 was your first year of complete inde- How were you able to raise profits signifi- pendence after the spin-off of Vienna Insur- cantly in spite of a fall in premiums? The ance Group Holding – did everything work B conditions on the capital markets were not out well? particularly favourable ... Lasshofer: Focusing on our business op- Dornaus: Given the environment, we can erations in Austria proved to be a good 8 be truly proud of the profits we achieved. move. With 3,500 employees, including This was due, on the one hand, to highly approximately 2,000 directly involved in capable asset management, which is gen- customer service, and around 1.3 million erally conservative and security-oriented. customers, we continue to be number 1 in In addition, we also pay close attention to the country and were able to increase pre- the creditworthiness of the issuers when miums in all classes – except, as previous- choosing investment securities, result- ly mentioned, in life insurance, where the ing in a high weighting of bonds with AAA legal framework for single-premium poli- and AA ratings in our investment portfolio. cies simply changed to our disadvantage. I say this, however, being fully aware of the We were nevertheless able to considerably scepticism needed when talking about rat- increase our economic profit as compared ings today, which is why this is just one of to the previous year. the criteria we use to choose investments. For 2012, we have set ourselves a goal of Müller: We continue to systematically im- “The Motor expanding our real estate portfolio in order plement a regional approach for our 140 to further increase the stability of our in- business offices, some of which were es- vehicLe BUSiNeSS vestments. tablished in 2011. We are currently building BecAMe MOre a new provincial headquarters for Lower Havasi: A high level of cost-efficiency also Austria, while simultaneously creating new PrOFitable AgAiN had a positive effect on our profits. The re- business offices in locations such as Tulln structuring measures we have introduced and Herzogenburg. We are therefore in- iN 2011.” in recent years, in particular combining all vesting heavily in Austria, especially in the administrative responsibility for personal locations where we are generating most of Erich Leiß insurance, property insurance, and col- our premiums. The stability we enjoy in the lections in three service centres, reduced VIG Group is a great help in all of this. costs substantially. We are also taking ad- vantage of many synergies within the VIG You said earlier that you are not cutting Group, particularly with respect to back costs where employees are concerned.

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