24/2/2009
By Sophie Baker
Finnish pensions advisory and insurance services provider, Ilmarinen, has revealed overall 2008 results of €-4,338.1million, with investment returns of -17.7 per cent.
However, the firm is positive with regards to premiums written, which increased by almost 18 per cent to €3.3bn, and the number of insured employees and entrepreneurs rose by 65,000. Ilmarinen is now responsible for the employee pension cover of over 800,000 people.
"The growth is a strong sign of confidence from our customers towards our expertise, services and competitiveness," said Harri Sailas, CEO at Ilmarinen. "Expertise, customer-orientation and cost-efficiency are the operational stabilisers that we will continue developing in the future as well."
Ilmarinen's investment strategy consisted mostly of bonds, and at the end of the year it had
42 per cent of the company's investment assets in this class. The best return among different investments came from real estate, with 12 per cent of the investment portfolio, and the total yield of these investments 6.1 per cent.
Sailas added that Ilmarinen will continue to indulge in responsible long-term investment in Finnish companies: "We truly believe in shares, and we will not decrease their portion in our investment portfolio considerably. We are the biggest private owner of Finnish companies. We also provide considerable financing for Finnish companies. For instance, the share of relending increased strongly in late 2008."
The firm's solvency capital fell to €2,673.0, representing 14.0 per cent of the technical provisions used in the calculation of solvency.
Sailas is also positive about the company's solvency: "The Finnish model for employee pensions has fared well. Its genius lies in the fact that a plunge in share prices does not affect individual pensions. The risk is delayed and distributed to thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of employees through pension payments," he said.
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