Tapiola’s position in the private household market was strengthened further in 2005. Mutuality - backed up by a cooperation network - is now profiling Tapiola as a different type of group, one that really offers benefits to the customer. Customer retention remained at a high level and the concentration of all insurances on Tapiola increased. As a result of all these factors, our market share for most product groups increased. Tapiola Bank reached its targets regarding the number of customers. Tapiola Life lost some market share in individual pension insurance, as sales failed to pick up until the end of the year.
Customers are satisfied with service
The operative areas focused on were clarification of customer management, improvement of claims, customers’ satisfaction, and strengthening of the role of both the offices and the entrepreneur-led local service as sales channels.
Operating practices were reformed as the telephone service became more commonly used and was extended to damage claims. These reformed functions were mainly at the service centres in Espoo and Tampere, although Kuopio benefited from the reform of the field of insurance service. Customers have been satisfied with the ease and rapidity of the claims telephone service.
Customer bonuses increased
In 2005, a total of EUR 42.3 million was paid out as customer bonuses to private households. Of this figure, owner discounts on non-life insurance accounted for EUR 32.0 million. The overall value of customer bonuses amounted to EUR 71.3 million, also including concentration discounts, service benefits, and discounts based on cooperation agreements. This amounts to EUR 11.3 million more than in the previous year.
Tapiola’s versatile service network
2005 was a year of multi-channel expansion. The key channels were offices, entrepreneur-led places of business, insurance representatives, telephone services, and the Internet. Cooperation between the Tapiola personnel in the claims service and on the field ran smoothly. When customers handle their issues through many channels, it is important that the technological quality of all service components is impeccable. The work of the office-based customer advisors was developed so that they had an opportunity to improve customer care and sales efforts.
Tapiola’s service network comprised 164 places of business at the end of 2005. There were 61 of our own offices in addition to 103 entrepreneur-led places of business, some of which are agency service points. The network of insurance representatives covers the whole country.
Mutuality lies behind everything
The policyholder-owned Tapiola provides its customers with benefits and sustainable solutions for well-being and success. The principles of mutuality create a solid basis for that. The most important three principles are the following:
- The owner customers decide
- No external ownership interest, only the interests of the customers
- Owner customers have the right to benefit from Tapiola’s success
Juhani Heiskanen
Group Director
Tapiola’s Services for Private Households