Scaling the summit with Caser.
Doris Russi Schurter,
Chair of the Board of Directors.
Text Doris Russi Schurter Foto zVg.
Just like a roped party of climbers on a mountain, a Group such as Helvetia needs to plan the route ahead. The direction is clear: We want to be the best partner for financial security and to set benchmarks in terms of customer convenience and access to customers. The way to the summit is both demanding and challenging. It calls for a multi-year strategy on our part.
Developing this strategy is one of the tasks that a Board of Directors cannot delegate. At Helvetia that does not happen in complete isolation, but in a joint structured gradual process between the Board of Directors and Group Executive Management. Once the helvetia 20.25 strategy has been adopted, it will be regularly reviewed and discussed going forward. And where necessary, the route to the summit will be adapted to circumstances.
Caser not only brought in its insurance business, it also gave our Group a new business area in the form of the Health ecosystem with over 300 employees working in hospitals, dental clinics and elder care homes. This lends an additional dimension to our corporate culture. We need to familiarize ourselves even more with this business segment if we are to understand its full potential. Because of Covid, it was not until April 2021 that I was able to visit Caser in person for the first time. The Board has meanwhile also had an opportunity to see things for themselves in Madrid. The extent to which Caser has already digitalized the Health ecosystem is impressive – a key requirement for helvetia 20.25. What is more, Caser is of major strategic relevance for the Helvetia Group: This acquisition also bolsters our non-life business as well as our fee business. It also gives us a second significant pillar in Europe besides the profitable Swiss market. And we can lock into synergies.
I attach a lot of importance to a partnership-based collaboration between Caser and Helvetia Spain. While both brands remain in place, any potential for active collaboration must be harnessed.
Caser’s integration clearly demonstrates the exciting prospects that our mountain tour promises. Ultimate responsibility for helvetia 20.25 rests with the Board of Directors, but it’s the job of Group Executive Management and the market areas to implement it. Not least, however, all our Group employees are playing their individual parts – insofar, thanks to helvetia 20.25, we all shoulder some of the responsibility for adding more chapters of the success story to our summit logbook.
viva. climb.