Premiums in the non-life insurance business of Baloise remained almost unchanged at 2.87 billion Swiss francs ($2.89 billion) in the first nine months of 2019, said the company in a statement on Wednesday. In Belgium and Luxembourg, the business had above-average growth rates.

The premium volume in the life business rose by more than a quarter to 3.4 billion francs (compared with 2.7 billion a year earlier). The growth became possible because Axa Switzerland pulled out of the market for comprehensive insurance solutions for occupational pensions.

Baloise to Reach Its Milestones

Baloise expects it will further strengthen its reserves for 2019 because interest rates are low. In the current interest rate environment, the company predicts earnings before taxes from the life business to be at least 200 million francs for the full year.

«It appears likely that Baloise will again reach the milestones that it has defined for the implementation of the Simply Safe strategic phase,» said Chief Executive Gert De Winter. «As in the past two years, we anticipate that the cash upstream will be in excess of 400 million francs, enabling Baloise to maintain its attractive dividend policy.»

Mortgage Business Thrives

In the advice-driven business, demand remained high for asset management mandates, investment advice mandates and mortgage finance. The robust growth in mortgages is being driven by the persistently low level of interest rates, which enables customers to obtain long-term financing on attractive terms, Baloise said.

Investment-type premiums surged by two thirds to 109 million francs in Switzerland, while dropping by a quarter to 1.1 billion overall. The fall was mainly due to a contraction in Luxembourg.