Welcome to the Gjensidige Q3 2020 results presentation. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Mitra Hagen Negård, Head of IR. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this third quarter presentation of Gjensidige Forsikring. My name is Mitra Negård, and I'm Head of Investor Relations. As always, we will start with our CEO, Helge Leiro Baastad, who will go through the highlights of the quarter before our CFO, Jostein Amdal, will run through the numbers in further detail. We have plenty of time for a Q&A at the end. Helge, please.
Thank you, Mitra. Good morning and welcome, everyone. I hope you are healthy and well. Since our last earnings call, many countries, including the Nordics, have experienced new spikes of COVID-19 cases, forcing governments to reintroduce restrictions. It seems like we must be prepared for new waves until an effective vaccination has taken place.
Although the pandemic has caused significant economic hardship for many people and industries, the overall economic outlook in our region is encouraging, pointing towards a gradual recovery. Gjensidige has continued to manage well through the pandemic. Let's turn to page two for some comments on our very strong third quarter result. We generated a profit before tax of NOK 2,048 million, of which NOK 1,512 million in underwriting result. This is the highest underwriting result we have ever delivered for a quarter when adjusting for run-offs.
The record result reflects 10% increase in earned premiums and a very healthy combined ratio of 78.2%. Large losses were low, and run-off gains were slightly higher than the planned releases. The underlying frequency loss ratio at 66.4% was very good. The pandemic had a slightly positive impact on our results this quarter, primarily due to less travel activity. The general claims pattern, apart from travel, is back to a more normal level in our markets, and our cost discipline remains strong.
We generated a financial result of NOK 551 million, reflecting continued recovery in the financial markets. An annualized return on equity year to date was 15.3%, reflecting the weak financial result in the first quarter in combination with a very high solvency ratio. I'm pleased that the clarification from the Norwegian Minister of Finance enabled us to finally pay out the dividend for 2019.
We paid a total of NOK 6.125 billion, or NOK 12.25 a share, on the September 13th to our shareholders. This is the same as our original proposal in January, and after this, we still have a very strong solvency position. Jostein will afterwards revert with more detailed comments on the results for the quarter. Turning to page three and our unique customer dividend model.
Following our dividend payment, the Gjensidige Foundation has again passed on its share of the regular dividend to our general insurance customers in Norway, as it has done every year since our listing in 2010. This year, the dividend from the Foundation amounted to almost NOK 2.3 billion, corresponding to 13.7% of the premiums paid in 2019. The payment to 800,000 customers started earlier this month. A positive contribution to many customers in these extraordinary times.
The Foundation has paid more than NOK 21 billion in customer dividend since the inception in 2007. The model is highly valued by our customers and complements our strong brand and delivery of superior customer experiences in building customer loyalty. Turning to page four, a few words about our operations. Starting with the macro view. For the rest of the world, the pandemic struck hard on the economies in our region, too, with sharp contraction in the beginning.
Thanks to the enormous stimulus packages and gradual easing of the toughest restrictions, we have seen a much swifter rebound than we dared to hope for just a few months ago. We are still not out of the woods. The forecast for Norway is encouraging, most recently voiced by the Norwegian Minister of Finance earlier this month, with a mainland GDP growth estimate of 4.4% next year.
Unemployment has declined by close to two-third since its March peak and is forecast to decrease further in 2021 to 3.1%. We find this encouraging and see a lower risk of pressure on the insurance volumes in Norway than we expected earlier this year. The recovery for the rest of the Nordics is also encouraging. Back to the third quarter again. We continued to put through necessary price increases in Norway for both segments.
I'm very pleased to see that we have maintained our superior market position despite tough competition. Thanks to our strong brand and effective sales efforts, we have continued to gain business volumes in the third quarter, alongside maintaining high retention levels for both our private and commercial segments. Renewals for our commercial segment are still strong, without signs of contraction despite the pandemic.
We will continue to put through price increases for both segments in Norway going forward. For private, in line with claims inflation, for all products except property, where we still see the need to price above this to reach satisfactory profits. We also see further need for price increases in the commercial segment, particularly for large corporates. We continuously improve our analytical models and customer scoring models to address the relevant products and segments.
Our latest excellent ranking in Ipsos reputation survey is a pleasant reminder of how we are viewed among Norwegian customers. Once again, we rank number one on overall reputation in the Norwegian finance sector, and we rank number six among over 100 companies in the survey, independent of sector.
We have climbed further in all subcategories, and we are particularly pleased to see that we once again were voted number one on social responsibility and morality in the finance sector. Our operations outside Norway generated mixed results. We are pleased with the underlying profit development in Denmark, thanks to a good development in premiums. We are making progress in Sweden too, although at a slower pace. I'm very pleased to see premium growth here.
We need to improve profitability further. We will seek to transform our Swedish business into becoming a more digital insurance provider with a high degree of automated internal processes. Our results in the Baltics reflects the fierce competition, which has resulted in top-line contraction. Our planned measures are unchanged, with a focus on optimizing multichannel distribution, improving data analytics, and price optimization. We are also seeking further efficiency in claims handling processes.
Over to slide five. Innovation is key to maintaining of a strong position and growth going forward. To that end, we have recently partnered with Norway's leading research center on digital innovation for sustainable growth at the Norwegian School of Economics. We have high expectation for this partnership, which includes a number of large international corporations and research institutions. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of customer-centered innovations, develop new business models, and adapt the organizations to a digital everyday life.
We have recently launched several products offerings we are very proud of. Demand for medical services is rising rapidly. Catering to our customers' needs and true to our strategy of being a problem solver for our customers, we are now the first insurance company in Norway to provide free direct access to online medical consultation with a doctor on a 24/7 basis.
We also offer a digital solution to ease our customers' navigation in the public health service domain. We are convinced that this is a valuable addition to our insurance products, further strengthening our ties with our customers. Sustainable solutions are a prerequisite for long-term value creation. We aim to make our entire product line even more sustainable.
As an example, this quarter, we have adjusted the terms in our home content and travel insurance product for our young customers by adding climate compensation for emissions related to the claims processes. Catering to the social aspect of sustainability, we have recently launched a new service for our commercial customers for a quicker return of employees on sick leave. The assistance is carried out together with medical and work coaching professionals.
This is an important damage prevention measure to avoid long-term disability and yet an example of delivering on our problem solver ambition. With that, I will leave the word to Jostein to present the third quarter results in more detail.
Thank you, Helge. Good morning, everybody. I'll start on page seven. We delivered a profit before tax of NOK 2.048 billion in the third quarter, significantly higher than the same quarter last year. Our underwriting result beat the record we set in Q2, climbing to the highest level ever when adjusting for runoffs. We had low large losses this quarter, which of course, contributed positively.
The main driver of the improved performance was continued high customer retention, effective pricing measures, higher business volumes, and good cost control. We also had a slightly positive impact from the pandemic situation. I'll revert with more detail on this in a moment. The financial result on our investment portfolio was also up year-over-year, reflecting the continued recovery in the financial markets.
After two consecutive record quarters, the underwriting result year to date is, of course, significantly above previous year's results or any other year for that matter. The financial result year to date is, however, still significantly below what we would normally expect due to the negative returns in the first quarter. Turning to page eight. Earned premiums were up 10% or 7.3% adjusted for currency effects. In the private segment, earned premiums rose by 5.6%, mainly due to price increases for motor and property insurance, as well as accident and health insurance.
Adjusted for the transfer of a portfolio to segment Denmark, the growth was 6.3%. Our competitiveness remained strong through the quarter. We continued to attract more private customers through the quarter, mainly driven by motor insurance, while the volumes on property insurance were somewhat impacted by the significant pricing measures we have and are continuing to put through.
Earned premiums for the commercial segment rose 9.4% thanks to effective pricing measures, solid renewals, and portfolio growth. All the main product lines recorded higher earned premiums. As Helge mentioned, we will continue to implement necessary pricing measures in Norway. Given the economic outlook and our solid market standing, we are comfortable that we will be able to put this through without hurting volumes.
Earned premiums in Denmark were up 8.5% in local currency and 4.1% adjusted for the discontinuation of a quota share reinsurance contract and transfer of the portfolio from the private segment. Decrease was mainly due to portfolio growth in the commercial lines, partly offset by lower premiums for travel insurance due to the travel restrictions. Earned premiums for our Swedish operation were up 10.2% in local currency, reflecting price and volume growth in the commercial lines, partly offset by lower volumes in the private lines.
For the Baltics, we reported a decrease of 7.2% in local currency. This reflects lower prices in the motor insurance line due to fierce competition, in addition to lower volume for travel insurance due to the COVID-19 situation. Turning over to page nine. The loss ratio for the third quarter declined 4.8 percentage points to 64.3%. Large losses were somewhat down year-on-year, the nominal level of losses was low compared to our expectations for a quarterly average.
As a reminder, large losses are random in nature. Runoff gains were in line with Q3 last year, although slightly higher than the planned release. The underlying frequency loss ratio improved by 4.4 percentage points to a very healthy 66.4%. This was due to our strong and robust premium growth, as well as a favorable claims development, particularly for our property insurance product in Norway.
Bear in mind, there are always random variations in frequency developments from quarter to quarter in insurance. The general claims pattern, apart from travel, is back to a more normal level in our markets. I'll be more specific about COVID-19 effects shortly, but for this third quarter, according to our estimates, this amounted to approximately 0.6 percentage points on the loss ratio.
In terms of segments, I am particularly pleased with the improvement in private this quarter, as well as the profitability level for private and commercial. In Sweden, the underlying frequency loss ratio was slightly down compared to the same quarter last year. The Baltics showed almost 9 percentage points increase in the underlying frequency loss ratio, mainly due to the pressure on motor insurance prices. We'll continue our efforts on improving operations, particularly in Sweden and the Baltics.
As Helge mentioned, we intend to transform our Swedish business into becoming a more digital insurance provider, combining this with automation of internal processes in order to obtain higher cost efficiency. We have started downsizing our labor force in Sweden and closed down our customer center. We will continue to identify further cost-cutting opportunities going forward. In the Baltics, the price competition, especially within motor TPL, is fierce.
We have a clear priority of returning to a more profitable level and will continue to focus hard on our operating expenses, where we see a significant potential for improvement. A few more details on the COVID impact on page 10. As you can see from the table here, the impact for the quarter was limited and almost slightly positive on our claims.
According to our estimates, it amounted to NOK 41 million, or 0.6 percentage points on the loss ratio. We recorded claims related to cancellations and home transportation this quarter too, mainly in the corporate center line. This was offset primarily by less travel activity for all segments, but also somewhat less driving in the commercial and Danish segments. In Sweden, we saw higher claims on payment protection insurance this quarter as well.
In addition to the impact on claims, we saw a negative impact on premium growth in Denmark and the Baltics related to travel insurance. Going forward, we expect stable activity in our markets and claims at more normal levels. However, with the ongoing travel restrictions, we expect a lower level of claims for travel insurance in the near future. Let's turn to page 11.
We recorded NOK 969 million in operating expenses in the quarter, corresponding to a cost ratio of 13.9% and 13.3% excluding the Baltics. The cost ratio for our combined Norwegian business was at a very good level, down 0.4 percentage points to 11.1%. Denmark recorded a cost ratio of 14% with increase compared to last year, mainly due to changes in the reinsurance program.
Progress on the new core insurance system is good and will sell the first policies from the new system before year-end as planned. The first part of Denmark covered will be the private segment, and thereafter will start rolling it out to the commercial segment. Our Swedish business has, as mentioned, a potential for higher efficiency. The cost ratio came in at 17.4% this quarter, more or less in line with the same quarter last year.
The cost ratio in the Baltics continued to come down and ended at 28.2% for the third quarter. It benefited from lower sales commissions as sales were impacted by the pandemic, but we also saw positive results from our ongoing cost savings initiatives. A few comments on our pension operation on slide 12. The pre-tax profit came to NOK 41 million, down year-over-year due to higher operating expenses.
A shortened depreciation timeframe for IT investments and higher headcounts in response to the growth in business volume drove the increase in operating expenses. Good returns on real estate investments and the recovery of the financial markets generated higher financial income on the pension portfolios. Assets under management was NOK 39 billion at the end of the quarter. Annualized return on equity came to 11.7%. The solvency margin at the end of the third quarter was 154%.
We expect higher operating expenses in response to growth, in addition to the market dynamics in the wake of the implementation of their own pension account to put some pressure on profitability in the short to medium term. The pension business is an important complement to our general insurance business in Norway, particularly within the SME part of our operation, and generates cross-selling opportunities.
As of the end of the third quarter, 68% of the customers in our pension business were general insurance customers as well. Moving on to the investment portfolio on page 13. The global financial markets continued to rebound through the third quarter. Interest rates and credit spreads came down, and equity and commodity markets were strong. The commercial real estate market in Norway continued to hold up well. We continued to re-risk our portfolio in the third quarter.
In retrospect, we should have done so earlier. All asset classes except private equity generated positive returns in the third quarter. Private equity funds with exposure to the oil sector had a weak performance. Our exposure in general towards the oil sector is limited. The total return amounted to NOK 551 million, or 0.9%.
At the end of the quarter, the total investment portfolio amounted to NOK 58 billion, reflecting market movements in addition to the payment of the NOK 6.1 billion in dividends at the end of the quarter. The matched portfolio yielded 0.7% return, excluding changes in the value of the portfolio valued at amortized cost. This portfolio amounted to NOK 36.6 billion at the end of the quarter. Bonds at amortized cost had a positive return of 0.9%.
This portfolio's running yield at the end of the quarter was 3.5%, while the reinvestment rate year to date was 3.3%. Unrealized excess value amounted to approximately NOK 1.2 billion. The free portfolio yielded a return of 1.1% in the quarter. At the end of the quarter, this portfolio amounted to approximately NOK 21.8 billion. The quality of assets in our portfolios is good. We have a solid fixed income portfolio with the large majority having an investment-grade rating.
We have a good share of property investments, mainly in offices in the central business district of Oslo and with very low vacancies in the portfolio. Looking at our capital position on page 14. Our capital position is very strong with a solvency ratio of 219% at the end of the quarter, down from 283% last quarter. The reduction is mainly due to the dividend payment for 2019.
The total Solvency II earnings and return in the free portfolio contributed with NOK 1.6 billion, but was reduced by a formulaic dividend of 80% of the accounting results so far in 2020. Without deducting this, the solvency margin would have been 242%. Eligible capital is also reduced by the planned runoffs of NOK 250 million. This will continue through 2022.
The capital requirement is somewhat higher this quarter. Underwriting risk increased mainly due to growth in premium volumes and technical reserves. Market risk increased due to higher exposure to equities and convertible bonds. Our appeal on the FSA's decision on the calibration of market risk has been partly approved. The impact of the change is a reduction of market risk by approximately NOK 0.2 billion.
We are very pleased with the partial approval, we aim to have all of the difference, including the other factors related to the storm model and correlation effect between market and underwriting risk approved. We have an ongoing dialogue with the FSA. Our own partial internal model, as at the end of the quarter, showed a solvency margin of 274%.
Finally, a few words on the latest development of our operational targets on slide 15. I'm very pleased with the progress on the majority of the operational targets this quarter. By delivering on these operational targets, we continue to improve our competitive position and lay the ground for future profitability. Both customer satisfaction and retention in Norway remain very high. The retention level outside Norway is slightly down this quarter, prolonging the tendency from the second quarter.
This is primarily driven by the temporary market contraction due to the pandemic in the Baltics. We have now reached our target on sales effectiveness based on running 12 months at 10% compared with our baseline year 2017. The increase this quarter is mainly driven by higher sales in the private segment, but also in the other segments, we now see higher sales levels compared to a difficult second quarter. There will still be some volatility in these figures between quarters going forward.
The share of automated tariffs continued to increase. We currently stand at around 52%, and we continue to include more product lines going forward, in addition to further refining tariffs already included. On the claims handling side, both digital claims reporting and the share of claims handled fully automatically have been stable this quarter.
We'll continue to develop these digital services further. I'm proud to announce that we have reached a digital milestone regarding a fully automated motor claims process. The phase I in this development has been on single accidents. We continue to push forward with new claims processes. We have reduced claims cost even further, most recently through a reduction related to insurance fraud, process optimization, and procurement.
We are currently well-positioned of reaching our target of reducing it by NOK 500 million in 2022. In terms of our CO2 intensity, we'll continue to develop our framework and to continuously reduce the carbon footprint of our claims process. I will hand the word back to Helge.
Thank you, Jostein. To sum up on page 16. We have had two quarters in a row this year with record underwriting results. This is, to a large degree, a result of our solid brand, efficient operations, and dedicated employees who put strong efforts in serving our customers every day. Our financial targets remain unchanged.
The pandemic is far from over, creating uncertainty for large parts of the world. The outlook for the Nordics is encouraging. This, together with our strong market position, robust model, and efficient operations, lays the ground for continued strong results going forward. Our solvency position is very strong, even after paying out the 2019 dividend.
Given the negative return on the investment portfolio for the first quarter of 2020 and the very high solvency ratio through the third quarter, the group's return on equity target is not expected to be achieved for the 2020 fiscal year. We continue to seek attractive M&A opportunities. In terms of dividends, we maintain our policy targeting high and stable nominal dividends on a regular basis, reflecting the group's underlying earnings capacity.
This means we expect a continued steady and nice regular dividend curve also from 2022 to 2023 and beyond, when run-off gains come down. Special dividends have been and will still be used from time to time to calibrate capital to meet our solvency target. With that, we will now open for the Q&A session.
We will take our first question from Jon Denham with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you very much for taking my questions. You've been consistently operating below your 2022 target of a 92, 93 combined ratio ex run-off gains, even when stripping out COVID. Just wondering, is the current level sustainable in the medium term? I think you said you've been pricing in line or ahead of claims inflation in your different lines.
Other than a pickup in large claims, what could really go against you? Then just secondly, thanks for the additional COVID disclosure. I was just wondering how much uncertainty is there around the estimated 0.6 percentage points benefit from COVID in Q3, i.e. what are the error bars around attributing frequency benefits to COVID versus underlying improvement? Thanks.
Hi, Jon. On the first one, we are in a very good position. With the competitive position we have, we are able to put through price increases, especially in Norway, to mitigate claims inflation, and also somewhat above where we see that the profitability level is not right where it should be.
As we said, on the property segment, on the private property and the private segment and certain parts of the commercial book, we still see the need for repricing, and we are fairly comfortable that we'll get that through. What that means is that the current level of profitability is fairly sustainable in the short to medium term. The main long-term risk is, of course, the competitive dynamics in the markets that somehow some of the major competitors should start going for volume instead of profitability.
We don't see any signs of that happening at the moment, at least. That's something that's outside of our reach. From where we sit, this is fairly sustainable in the short to medium term. The uncertainty about the COVID-19 impact is a good question because this is really an estimate, as we've tried to underline. It's our best estimate of what the effects have been.
I don't have a specific band around it, how uncertain it is. There are uncertainties related to this because there are a lot of other effects, including weather and other changes that could have affected this change from year to year. It's our best effort to give you some numbers per segment on the COVID-19 effects.
Brilliant. Thank you.
We will now take our next question from Blair Stewart with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. I've got three questions, please. You've just reported an outstanding underwriting result, I think not for the first time. Just wondering, and looking through the various segments, it's not obvious where there's a weakness, but you are still talking about pushing through price increases, and in certain ways your profitability is not where you'd like it to be.
I wonder if you could just give us a bit more color on that, because it's not obvious where that is given the kind of outstanding underwriting results that you've been producing. The second question is just on the reserve releases. Could you just remind us of the expected pattern of those over the next few years? I think you talked about 2022/ 2023, when you expect those to drop away, still being able to pay steady dividends.
Just really looking for an update on the expected progression of those reserve releases, if there's any change to your previous expectations. Thirdly, I guess with a view to COVID and certainly what's happening in my part of the world, hardly anyone's working in their offices. There is some concern over the impact that might have on real estate prices in some countries.
That doesn't seem to be the case in the Nordic region. Could you just give us some thoughts on that. Are things really back to normal, everyone going back to the office in the Nordic countries, so therefore no pressure on the real estate market? Thank you.
Thanks, Blair. In terms of weaknesses, I think we already in the previous question highlighted that within the property product in the private book and in certain parts of the commercial book, we still see the need for repricing.
Of course, it's not obvious from the overall figures, but when we look at the need for profitability measures, we look of course much more granular, and we see some areas where we see a need for more price increases than the expected claims inflation. Then in other parts, the overall picture is that we try to price in line with claims inflation. Outside of Norway, it's obvious that the profitability level this quarter in the Baltics isn't good at all.
The volatility of the profitability level in Sweden is too high, as maybe they had a weak second quarter and then a fairly okay third quarter in Sweden. I think I said on various occasions earlier that we need to build a more robust profitability in the Swedish operations, and we are working hard to achieve that. There are weaknesses and rooms for improvement in results.
Of course, you need to remember that there are look-through volatility in large losses, of course. That is every quarter. That's the case. On the reserve releases, we've been fairly clear that our policy is to reserve every new underwriting year at best estimate. Then we've identified a bulk of run-off gains stemming from vintages 2014 and earlier, which has led to this NOK 250 million a quarter run-off gains.
When calibrating our dividend profile, ordinary dividends, we have been very eager to make sure that we can plan this so that there is no cliff effect when we move from 2022 to 2023. We need to improve underlying profitability and grow the book of business, and I think we demonstrate that we are able to do that.
Future reserve releases after that, when we try to reserve at best estimate, it should be zero. History shows that on average, I think we have been slightly conservative in the reserving. The effort is best estimate is what we're aiming for. Your third question was related to real estate prices. Our property investments are mainly offices in the Oslo area.
There could of course be large changes in how that could affect the future. So far, real estate prices in Oslo have actually gone the other way during the pandemic. There are no signs of that happening at the moment, at least. As what's happening in years ahead, I'm sure you are as good a fortune teller as I am, Blair.
Just to add a comment on the first question. As you know, Blair, I will say we have a very unique position in Norway, both when it comes to private business and commercial business. You heard me also said that since 2010, the Foundation, they have paid out NOK 21 billion in customer dividends. The combination of the business itself, of a cost position in Norway, and the strong and unique customer dividend model, I will say that we have a very unique and strong and robust model also for the coming years in Norway.
Great. Thanks, guys.
We will now take our next question from Håkon Astrup with DNB Markets. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I have two questions from me. The first one is on growth. You have a strong underlying growth in the quarter, 7.3%. Is it possible to say how much of that stems from price increases and how much is market share development? That was the first question. The second question on the impact from COVID-19. Is it fair to expect some positive COVID-19 impacts going forward, as long as we have the current restrictions in place? Thank you.
Håkon. I don't have a precise breakdown of the 7.3% overall growth in volume and price. If we look at it segment by segment, the majority is price, both in commercial and private in Norway. There is also positive volume effects. We've gone through these price increases and still been able to have a high retention and attract new business, especially within the motor business in the private and in general in the commercial segment, I would say.
In Denmark, we do also have volume growth in the commercial part of the book, and the same goes for Sweden. It's a combination of volume and price in both Denmark and Sweden. I don't have the specific split there. Of course, in the Baltics, we have negative growth and that's mainly volume. We try to keep our stand in terms of pricing.
Perfect. If I just may follow up on that. In Norway, who are you taking market shares? Are they from smaller players, or are you taking market share from other incumbents?
I'm not sure if we are taking market share. I think it's quite stable, Håkon. The main competitors when we discuss this with the distribution these days, in the private line, it's Tryg, If, and Fremtind. It's the three large competitors, actually. Overall, I think maybe the four significant players in Norway maybe take some small shares together from the small ones. It's quite stable when it comes to market shares.
Yeah. We take our share of the underlying volume growth in the current market.
That's right.
Your second question on the forward estimates on COVID-19 effects going forward. As we said, travel activity is fairly low. There is some small positive effects probably from travel. Apart from that, I don't expect any significant effects, really.
When it comes to travel insurance, it's important to remember that this is a 12 months product, Norway is a huge country, it's lots of travel also in Norway, it's international travels, where we have restrictions these days. Yeah.
Thank you.
We will now take our next question from Jan Erik Gjerland with ABG. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Three questions from my side as well. First one is the fantastic underwriting you have in Norway and having private at 55.6% claims ratio. How long is really acceptable for you, or what could the customers really accept when it comes to these levels? Is there any sort of lower level here on the profitability at all, or is it so that you just repay all these fantastic returns you give back to your clients and they are pretty happy with it? That's my first question.
Jan Erik, it's important to remember that when you're looking at the figures, you have to adjust for run-off gains. You have to remember that we pay customer dividend. This year is between 13% and 14% back to the consumers, you must also remember the unique and low-cost position and efficiency position. That's really important to bear in mind when you're talking about profitability and future.
Jostein maybe commented that, the growth in private lines in Norway, it's a combination of volume and price. It's more price than volume, still, it's a combination. The competition is fierce. Finally, it's also important to remember that we, in Norway, with zero interest level, it's a completely different situation compared to only a few years ago. We think this is sustainable. That's the summary, actually.
Okay, perfect. On the pricing and volume, you mentioned in the report that you see some kind of volume loss in travel insurance, and you also have some payment protection schemes in Sweden, which sort of give you some headache. If you can then comment also on how you will develop Sweden digital, and that will also be helpful.
Yeah, I'll start on the first part of the question, Jan Erik. The volume loss you're talking about in travel is that the bulk of our travel insurance products are 12-month policies, so you don't see an immediate reduction in premium on there. We also have a part of the travel insurance book that is more travel-by-travel insurance and sold through travel agencies and so on.
That's more common in the Baltics and under the Gouda brand in Denmark. There we see a loss in travel business related to the travel restrictions stemming from COVID-19. On the PPI, we have a small book of payment protection insurance in Sweden. It's not enormous, but when there's been some increase in unemployment, that is typically when we do experience losses in that book.
Okay.
Sweden.
Okay, understand. Sweden digital?
Yes. Just getting to that. We do have, of course, trying to digitalize and automate most part of the business, but we see the need to differentiate ourselves somewhat in Sweden, given our relatively weak position there.
We decided to intensify our efforts in Sweden to digitalize all our customer-oriented processes and automate as much as possible of what's beneath the hood in internal processes. This should both give us the cost reductions we need there, but also, cater better to a more modern customer need there. I think we'll get back with more details on the future Swedish position at a later stage, but that's the headlines.
Okay. Will it lead to any restructuring cost or any layoffs which will make a significant part of it? How should we think about this? Should you run with zero people, everything from Norway, or how should it really be played out?
Not quite, but it's too early to comment on any specific restructuring costs and so on, but it will probably involve fewer people than today.
Okay. Finally, just following up on Blair's question on runoff gains. You have this runoff situation up to 2014, if I understood you correctly. It's six years upon us since 2014. Is it so that we should expect more runoff to come, as you said, conservative provisioning levels going forward? Is that what should prevent your cliff from coming? Is that a sort of an indication?
No, I think what we're trying to say is that we are intending to avoid that cliff with just pure underlying good profits, growth and profitability level. Our communication, as I commented on Blair's question, remains the same. We reserve each new underwriting year at best estimate. We have a specific pool of vintage runoff gains from workers' compensation and personal injury within motor, stemming from 2014 and earlier. We're taking that NOK 250 million a quarter approximately. I'll leave it at that.
Okay. Thanks for your answers.
We will now take our next question from Johan Ström with Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just one question from me. In your target to achieve NOK 750 million of underwriting results outside Norway, do you feel that you're running according to plan or maybe a little bit about that?
I think it's fair to say that if you look at the figures, we are ahead of the plan. What Jostein also said, it's volatile in Baltics and it's volatile in Sweden, and we are going to implement a new legacy system in Denmark. When we communicated that target, we said that this would be volatile. We are quite confident that we will reach the target, Johan. I think that's important to remember, that we have a weak position in Sweden. It's more vulnerable in the Baltics. As I said during my presentation, we are really pleased with the progression in Denmark. That's important.
Thank you.
We will now take the next question from Ulrik Zürcher with Nordea. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you for taking the questions. I have two. I was wondering if you could give a bit more color on why the property profitability in Norway isn't exactly where you want it, and is specific claims inflation, so forth. Secondly, I think Jostein, you said you have a reinvestment yield of 3.3%, which sounds a bit high when the Norwegian swap is around 1%. Yeah. What's going on there? Thank you.
Inflation for property insurance in Norway?
No. The first one, why we're not happy with the property.
When it comes to property, it's volatile, and we also have this problem with more water claims, more volatile weather. When looking at the figures, you have to remember that it has been lower large losses and lower medium-sized losses in the quarter, and during 2020 as a whole also. We haven't had any significant weather-related situations during this year.
When we look underlying, we want to secure better, a stronger position to meet more volatile weather situations going forward. It's first and foremost related to water-related claims and weather-related claims. We have improved our profitability, significantly, I would say, since we started to implement lots of measures, not only price measures one year ago. Still we have to look at terms and our tariffs and price measures to secure even stronger underlying profitability for our property insurance in Norway. We are really on our way.
For your second question on the reinvestment yield, these are the reinvestments of what actually matured during the year so far. As you correctly point out, if you look at the interest rate development throughout the year, it's been dropping from the start of the year. The bulk of the reinvestments we've done year to date actually took place not in the third quarter, but in the two previous quarters when interest rates were a bit higher.
There'll be some issues with fairly okay yields for a good investment grade. Not the third quarter, but in the second quarter, for instance. We've not increased our risk or reduced our credit requirements or anything like that to achieve this. Going forward, we do expect reinvestment yields to continue to drop, given where we see interest rates curves are at the moment.
Okay. Thank you. Great.
We will now take the next question from Vegard Toverud with Pareto. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. I was thinking about the maintained guiding of 86%-89% combined ratio with the 50% cost ratio, implying then a 71%-74% claims ratio. What would that be for a Q3? What would you, with your current guiding, expect as a claim ratio for a Q3?
I didn't quite catch what you actually meant there, Vegard.
I'm just looking at the current Q3 with 64% claims ratio.
Are you asking about the normalized?
And you are-
Please bear in mind that there is seasonality in the numbers as you very well know. It's the second and third quarter are typically much better than the fourth and the first quarter due to just the weather in Scandinavia. It's probably not so useful in looking at the quarterly figures. If you'd rather look at the 12-month rolling picture and kind of normalized for, say that we had this NOK 1 billion loss in runoff gains per year and normalized large losses, we would now be at 83.9 on a 12-month rolling basis.
That is comparable to the 86 that we guide, and means that at the moment we are below that target level. If it's assumed, we say below 15% cost ratio. If you say 15%, to make it easy, that should be almost 69% loss ratio on a 12-month rolling basis. If that makes sense to you.
Yes, that makes sense. Also that in the quarter, you have only 0.6% positive impact from COVID-19. In your pricing, you see some need to reprice in some areas, but are pricing in line with inflation in other areas. How are you going to get back to 86%-89% level from the current significantly lower combined ratio level?
Yeah. As you asked, I think it was on Jon's question, the first one on the sustainability of 93. We do believe that at the moment we will continue to deliver somewhat below and the main risks to that are of course the long-term competitive situation in there. For everything that we have under control, we have a fairly good cost control, so it won't be that we will break on the cost side.
This will be the loss ratio side. Given the current competitive position in Norway, we are able to get through prices, as we've indicated. We need to improve the situation outside of Norway to get to the NOK 750 in 2022. It's in the short term, we probably deliver somewhat better, but this is a long-term target. It's not a year-by-year target.
Nevertheless, very impressive. Thank you very much for your answer.
We will now move to our next question from Alexander Evans with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Hi, Helge. Hi, Jostein. Just a couple of questions left from me. Firstly, just on the dividend. You paid the ones relating to 2019, after the coronavirus situation seemed to have normalized to some degree. You mentioned the emergence of a second wave.
Does that change your outlook on dividends at all, similar to the fashion at the start of the year? Does the guidance from the Norwegian FSA annual capital position mean that you're quite comfortable in paying a dividend if we were to see it worsen? Secondly, on the own model approval, is there any timeline for approval of your own model and that dialogue going forward?
We saw a shift in regulatory stance after clarification from the Minister of Finance in September, and they were very clear that they saw differentiating between banks and insurance companies, and it has been no change announced since that. We are quite comfortable that we will continue as we have been doing for many years, with high and stable dividend. Now and then we also look at the total capital position and, as I said, now and then we also pay out extraordinary dividends. We are comfortable with that.
Yeah. As far as we see it will be up to our specific solvency situation and our-
Yeah
own assessment of the future capital.
Related to the company.
Yeah. That was a clear signal from the FSA, and it's the boards and then the general assembly to decide that, not the FSA. On the own model timeline, unfortunately, I don't have a timeline. It drags out. We are working, as you see, patiently to get the remaining parts approved at some time, and we had a small victory this quarter.
Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.
We will now take a follow-up question from Jan Erik Gjerland with ABG. Please go ahead.
Yes. Just on Vegard's questions as well. Why would you not seek more growth over profit, since you seem to have both available out there, and grab some market share for now and then get an even better position going forward?
The DNA of the company, at least since I have been here for the last 20 years, Jan Erik, has been to focus primarily on profitable growth, and that's still the overall target. As we communicated now, we have a combination of volume growth and premium growth. We are really pleased with the situation, and the overall growth is really strong.
I think it's not right for me to change that in the organization and ask them for pushing market shares. We have a strong distribution set up, and they aim for growth where they can secure growth in a profitable way, and that's the way we steer this company. In small segments, for some products in regions, of course, when it's possible, we will try to increase our volumes. The overall signal from me on this call to the organization to start to run for market shares, that's not right.
Thank you. Very clear.
We will now take the next question from Thomas Svendsen with SEB. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Two questions. First on premiums on the large corporates. You have talked about, for some time about increased prices there. Do you see it's more difficult to increase prices, or is it easier to increase prices there, or is it a gradual process of increasing prices in this segment?
I think-
That's the first question. The second question is-
Yep. Come on, Thomas.
Okay
yeah.
Yeah. Just on the second question on motor claims, because we had these anecdotes here in Norway that traffic were up 30% in some parts of the country, and you might expect some more claims from that. Did you see any effects from the increased traffic, or was it natural ? Thank you.
Yeah. Large corporates, it's always tough discussions. I would say that the situation is unchanged since two years back and until now. It has been easier for us to implement price increases, also for large corporates, both in the direct channel, also through the broker channel. It's unchanged situation compared to what we saw one year ago and also two years ago. We are soon reaching January 1st renewals, and that's always tough discussions. We are, I would say, quite confident that we will continue through these renewals also in a very strong way.
Yeah, I guess we'll have more to report on that in the fourth quarter.
Absolutely
report, Helge. On the second part on the motor side, I think that the claims pattern also in motor has returned to a fairly normal level after being somewhat lower in the first, say from March to May, somewhat. It's a more normal pattern now. We don't see anything particular within our claims numbers at least.
Thank you.
We will now take one more follow-up question from Blair Stewart with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just wanted to come back on the dividend question. You said that your ability to pay dividends will be related to your own solvency situation. That does seem to be a change in the regulatory view compared to earlier this year, where there was a blanket ban on dividends. What do you think has prompted that change? What would be the risk that the Norwegian FSA reverts back to that policy where there's a blanket ban?
Regulation is always a risk, but I think when you read the clarification from the Ministry of Finance in September, it's a very clear differentiation between banks and insurance companies. We think this will be the situation also going forward. When you look at the solvency position of the companies and Gjensidige today, I do not think, and also when we commented the macro situation and the forecast for next year, I do not see a large risk at least of any changes in that there.
Was that a regulatory error earlier in the year then, do you think?
No, I will not comment that. It's dynamic.
Okay, great. Thank you. Very political. Well done.
There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back to our host for any additional or closing remarks.
Right. Hi again, everyone. We will be participating in a number of roadshow meetings and a conference over the next few weeks, virtually also this quarter due to the pandemic. The meetings we will be holding with investors in Norway, the U.K., Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and also the U.S. Please see our financial calendar on our website for more details. Thank you for your attention. Have a nice day and stay healthy. Bye.