Helvetia : merges legal entities and organisation in Switzerland

Helvetia took over the Nationale Suisse Group in October 2014. Nationale Suisse registered shares were delisted from the SIX Swiss Exchange at the start of April 2015. Further key steps have now been taken to combine the two firms into one. The merger of Helvetia Swiss Insurance Company Ltd and Swiss National Insurance Company Ltd was approved by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA and was entered in the Commercial Register on 30 April 2015. The merger of Helvetia Swiss Life Insurance Company Ltd and Swiss National Life Ltd was submitted to the Canton of Basel-Stadt Commercial Register Office on 4 May 2015 for entry in the Commercial Register.

A single brand: Helvetia

Helvetia became the single brand in the marketplace with effect from 1 May 2015. Customers will continue to receive the service they have come to expect. Helvetia will take over Nationale Suisse insurance contracts in full and continue them unchanged. Customers and distribution partners can benefit from a unified and comprehensive range of attractive insurance and pension solutions for individuals and companies.

New organisation model in force

Helvetia's new organisation model for office and field staff also came into force on 1 May 2015. It brings together the two firms' previously separate management structures and thus creates a basis for customer-focused, efficient processes. Most of Nationale Suisse's roughly 1,500 staff in Switzerland have been given a role in the new organisation.

However, a measured headcount reduction is unavoidable due to structural duplications. Out of currently around 3,850 staff in Switzerland, roughly 70 terminations on the employer's side and 30 early retirements are expected. The employees affected will receive active support in finding a new job in line with the agreed social plan as well as a salary guarantee up to the end of 2015.

As had been anticipated, further redundancies can be achieved through natural attrition. On balance, approximately 200 employees have left since October 2014. This shows that the job market in the Swiss insurance industry is very buoyant and confirms the view that natural attrition will be sufficient to cover a significant proportion of the medium-term synergies.

"New Helvetia" a strong all-lines insurer in Switzerland

Thanks to these vital steps, the "new Helvetia" is ready to begin operating in Switzerland just six months after the takeover was completed. The legal entities have been merged, the product range harmonised and the joint organisational structure put in place. The two successful companies Helvetia and Nationale Suisse have come together to create a leading Swiss all-lines insurer. The "new Helvetia" has increased its distribution network from 62 general and main agencies to 81, given more customers access to online platforms such as smile.direct and created additional broker channels and is backed up by the strong, established banking partners Raiffeisen, Swisscanto and Vontobel. The significant increase in market share and greater financial strength will make Helvetia an even more dependable insurance partner for the Swiss market.

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About the Helvetia Group

Over the past 150 years, the Helvetia Group has developed out of various Swiss and foreign insurance companies into a successful insurance group with a presence throughout Europe.

Helvetia now has operations in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy and France. It also conducts some of its investment and financing operations via subsidiary and fund companies in Luxembourg and Jersey. The former Nationale Suisse became part of Helvetia Group in October 2014, and its business activities are being continued by Helvetia Group as of 1 May 2015. The Group's head office is located in the Swiss town of St. Gallen. Helvetia offers life policies, insurance against loss and reinsurance. With around 7,000 employees, it provides services for more than 4.7 million customers. In the 2014 financial year, Helvetia generated underlying earnings of CHF 421.7 million on a business volume of CHF 7.76 billion. The registered shares of Helvetia Holding are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the code HELN.

Cautionary note

This document was prepared by Helvetia Group and may not be copied, altered, offered, sold or otherwise distributed to any other person by any recipient without the consent of Helvetia Group. Although all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the facts stated herein are correct and the opinions contained herein are fair and reasonable, where any information and statistics are quoted from any external source such information or statistics should not be interpreted as having been adopted or endorsed as accurate by Helvetia Group. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees and advisors nor any other person shall have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this information. The facts and information contained in this document are as up to date as is reasonably possible but may be subject to revision in the future. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisors nor any other person makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.

This document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Helvetia Group which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there is a risk that predictions, forecasts, projections and other outcomes described or implied in forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular in the markets in which we operate; (2) the performance of financial markets; (3) changes in interest rates; (4) changes in currency exchange rates; (5) changes in laws and regulations, including accounting policies or practices; (6) risks associated with implementing our business strategies; (7) the frequency, magnitude and general development of insured events; (8) mortality and morbidity rates; (9) policy renewal and lapse rates as well as (10), the realisation of economies of scale as well as synergies . We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive; when evaluating forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Helvetia Group on the date of its publication and Helvetia Group assumes no obligation to update such statements unless otherwise required by applicable law.