What's next for Personal Lines insurance?
When I accepted the role as CEO of Ageas UK, I never thought I’d be leading a business at a time when the world has been turned upside down by a global pandemic. So I start by saying that I hope you, your families and your colleagues are well and safe at this uncertain time.
Ageas is a business that I am very proud of – we employ some great people who really care about the customer; and we have extremely strong partnerships with you.
I’ve been impressed by how quickly we’ve been able to adapt to the situation and kept things running – so we can continue to support you and our customers in a very different environment. I’ve heard some great stories where we've helped customers and some of the great feedback we’ve had from you about our overall responce, to which I am very thankful.
We saw some of our highest satisfaction scores with customers throughout the lockdown, across both our Net Promoter Score and Net Ease Score. In addition, the claims supply chain continued to provide a high level of service to customers, with capacity continuing to match demand across all channels.
Commercially, Ageas is a stable organisation with a strong solvency position. Today we announced our half year financial results reflecting lower claims volumes in the second quarter, offset by the weather events of the first quarter. Motor income is down as a result of deliberate pricing actions, although we have seen growth in household and commercial thanks to new deals in the broker market.
In the quarter, we’ve been pleased to announced new deals with Victor Insurance and for Land and Estates Insurance with R K Harrison, the specialist rural division of Howden UK. Our commitment to the market was further enhanced with the appointment of a senior distribution leadership team, Russell White, Mark Auchterlonie and Darren Whittaker. This will be further bolstered with the appointment of our new Chief Distribution Officer and I hope to announce the person in that role very soon.
Looking ahead, we do not yet know what the true impact of the pandemic will be; we have already seen changes to driving patterns, an increase in vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists and even our homes now fulfilling the dual role of office space and living accommodation for many.
This, combined with one of the deepest and most sudden recessions in living memory, will fundamentally change the way customers choose and use insurance. This brings a continued level of uncertainty for the months ahead and therefore our focus has to be on preparing for these unknowns.
The team and I look forward to working with you, and hopefully seeing you, over the coming months as we face into what the second half of 2020 throws our way.
Stay safe and well,
