ING Direct 2013 Annual Report Download - page 55

Administrative expenses were EUR 310 million in 2013, a 7.2%
decrease compared with EUR 334 million in 2012. This decrease
partly reflects the incurrence of a one-off financial institution tax in
Hungary of EUR 15 million in 2012 and tight cost control
throughout the region in 2013, the impact of the latter partly offset
by investments in new business in Turkey.
DAC amortisation and trail commissions decreased slightly to EUR
319 million in 2013 from EUR 321 million in 2012. DAC
amortisation and trail commissions in Belgium decreased due to a
new commission agreement with distributor ING Bank Belgium as
well as lower sales, offset by the reclassification of the Belgian
crisistax.
Non-operating items increased to a gain of EUR 53 million in 2013
from a loss of EUR 66 million in 2012. This increase reflects a EUR
48 million gain on the sale of Dutch and German government
bonds in Belgium in 2013, as compared with capital losses and
impairments on financial and government bonds in Belgium and
Spain in 2012.
Special items were a loss of EUR 9 million in 2013, primarily related
to expenses for a regional transformation programme. This
compared with a loss of EUR 38 million in 2012, which included
expenses related to the operational separation from ING, expenses
for the transformation programme and expenses related to the
base case IPO.
The result before tax increased to EUR 243 million in 2013 from EUR
115 million in 2012. The decrease in operating result was more than
offset by an improvement in non-operating items and special items.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS
Insurance Europe primarily offers life insurance, mainly to retail,
self-employed, SME and corporate customers in 11 countries:
Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Romania,
Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Spain, Greece and Luxembourg. It also
offers pensions in some of these markets and non-life insurance in
Belgium and Spain, and healthcare insurance in Greece.
In Europe, Insurance Europe was in 2012 the largest provider of life
insurance in Romania and Hungary, and had top-four positions in
the Czech Republic and Greece – in each case measured in GWP. It
was the largest provider of mandatory pensions in Poland, Slovak
Republic, Romania and Hungary, and voluntary pensions in
Romania – in each case measured by assets under management.
CUSTOMER FOCUS
Insurance Europe is making clear progress in improving the
customer experience and received awards for this in several
countries. In Poland an electronic application for customers
significantly reduced online claims handling and service time. In
Romania new functions in MyING, the first self-service portal in the
local life insurance market, were introduced. Spain launched a
newcustomer website including a self-service portal with improved
functionality; policies can now be delivered within two days
fromapplication.
In the Czech Republic, about 80% of claims are processed within
five days. In Belgium the car insurance claim process was
redesigned to make it clearer for customers. In Turkey the website
was re-launched with more functions, and the customer portal’s
self-service capability was enhanced; in addition, a mobile
application was introduced to give customers access to their
accounts at any time and wherever they are.
In Bulgaria annual pension statements can now be received by
email, which brings convenience and reduces paper usage.
PRODUCTS
Insurance Europe offers both protection and investment products.
It introduced several customer initiatives in 2013 in line with its
strategy to improve the customer experience. In January Greece
launched its new health product, Orange Cross, with plain
language, illustrations and an easy-to-use manual. In December
2012, ING in the Czech Republic launched For You, breast cancer
insurance cover for women which includes online access to
information and help about cancer prevention. For You has been
well received by customers, achieving an excellent NPS score. In
2013 Spain became the second country to offer For You.
Spain signed a collaboration agreement with Mutua Madrileña
Group, and started selling its car insurance with special benefits for
ING customers. Poland achieved success with its ”Insure yourself
and trick the cancer“ campaign, which was voted the best
campaign in the finance category of the Zloty Spinacz awards, a
prestigious public relations award. The campaign was recognised
for its corporate responsibility features, including cancer prevention
and education about healthy living and the importance of regular
medical examinations. Romania launched the country’s first online
life insurance service. Turkey introduced a long-term life product,
using online and offline distribution channels. Luxembourg
launched a unit-linked life insurance solution for the French market.
DISTRIBUTION
Insurance Europe is building a multi-channel distribution platform
to serve customers across all channels. It continues to invest in tied
agents via the Tangerine programme which pools ING’s regional
know-how and provides a best-practice template on how to run a
tied agent sales force. Tangerine is being introduced country-by-
country and is already increasing tied agent productivity. Insurance
Europe is also investing in the broker channel, especially in Turkey.
In bancassurance, Insurance Europe is signing up more banking
partners as well as working closer with existing partners. In
November a partnership was announced with Anadolubank in
Turkey, where bancassurance arrangements performed well in
2013. NN Group in Luxembourg is building partnerships in France
and Italy.
Turkey launched a pilot network of retail insurance shops selling
ING products and those of its competitors. In Spain, a pilot network
of insurance agents (Orange Points) in the country’s smaller cities
was established to reach new and existing customers not covered
by the company’s branch network, which is located in the
largecities.
CONCLUSIONS AND AMBITIONS
Insurance Europe made clear progress in improving the customer
experience and broadening its distribution base in 2013.
Newproducts and value propositions were introduced. Its
customerfocus approach resulted in increasing NPS scores and
several awards.
53ING Group Annual Report 2013
1 Who we are 2 Report of the Executive Board 3 Corporate governance 4 Consolidated annual accounts 5 Parent company annual accounts 6 Other information 7 Additional information