Last year, the VidaCaixa insurance group increased its consolidated profit by 32.1%, to 1,147 million euros, thanks to the growth of the resources it manages, which reached 122,356 million euros, 9.2% more, contributed by 6.4 million customers, a group that remained practically stable last year.
The company’s general director, Javier Valle, recalled that VidaCaixa has been a leader in the Spanish insurance sector for eight years, with a market share of 14.88% in Spain, which in the life branch reaches 35.7% of insurance provisions, and manages 34% of the total assets in pension plans. Its Portuguese subsidiary, BPI Vida e Pensões, is the second largest pension manager in the country, and the third in the life insurance industry.
Javier Valle assured that 2023 was a “very intense and very good year” driven by the rate increase that raised the resources collected by 31.2%, in the form of insurance premiums and contributions to pension plans, reaching 13,444.2 millions of euros.
The group’s growth was based on the growth of annuities, a segment in which the group is a leader, which grew by 60% with contributions of 4.8 billion euros, as well as guaranteed savings insurance. The group has close to a million customers who save systematically, with an average contribution of 143 euros per month, with MyBox Retirement as its star product.
VidaCaixa also grew by 6.4% in the collection of life risk premiums, up to 1,372 million euros, well above the market as a whole, driven by its MyBox Vida product.
Contributions to individual pension plans, on the other hand, fell by 8.4%, to 966.8 million euros, but the profitability of investments increased managed resources by 7%, to 29,725 million euros.
Valle highlighted VidaCaixa’s growth in employment pension plans, which he described as the second pillar of the social security system. The group has been chosen by the Ministry of Social Security to manage one of the lots of the new publicly promoted employment pension funds (FPEPP), and came first in the competition due to the profitability it offers to participants.
The firm also launched a simplified pension plan for the self-employed a year ago, with ATA, which “is gaining participants,” and is in the process of launching the simplified employment pension plan for the construction sector, open to one million workers. employed and 400,000 self-employed from 130,0000 companies. “It is a very complex project, and we believe that its success will encourage other sectors, which are considering taking similar initiatives,” he said.
Valle explained that the group is carrying out a pilot project with the reverse mortgage, a product with which they prefer to be cautious because in his opinion “the regulatory environment is not clear enough” and contracting has fewer guarantees than in other countries.
For 2024, Valle foresees a “continuous” exercise, because in his opinion there will not be a significant reduction in interest rates, and with the focus on growth in employment plans.
The manager pointed out that the group will reinforce its commitment to inclusivity, which was achieved in 2023 with HIV patients, by becoming the first insurer to expand its coverage at a standard rate to patients without previous illnesses and under treatment.
The group, Valle explained, is also going to anticipate what the Oncological Right to be Forgotten Law provides. Thus, he explained, it will insure with standard conditions people who have suffered from certain breast or prostate cancers after one year of starting their treatment, without waiting for the five years established by law.
