ICMIF member la Mobilière, number-one personal lines insurer in Switzerland, and The Raiffeisen Group, the leading retail bank in the country will enter into a strategic partnership from 1 January 2021. In addition to an exclusive arrangement for mutually recommending banking, pension and insurance products, they will design and develop joint products and services targeting young adults, families and SMEs. The strategic partnership also encompasses a shared platform that will comprehensively service homeowners. The end result for customers will be even greater expertise and an expanded range of complementary banking, pension and insurance solutions for their every need.
“Through this strategic partnership, Raiffeisen can respond more comprehensively to the requirements of its customers and offer them perceptible added value,” says Heinz Huber, chair of Raiffeisen Switzerland’s Executive Board. “Both companies’ decentralised structures and attested proximity to customers represent a considerable advantage in this respect.”
“This strategic partnership lnks two sitrong, cooperatively based companies,” states Markus Hongler, CEO of la Mobilière. “We share the same culture, one in which we are simply there for our customers – offering swift, simple and unbureaucratic solutions.”
Full-service offering for homeowners
Raiffeisen is the foremost provider of mortgages while la Mobilière is the number-one household insurer in Switzerland, which makes them market leaders for the ‘home’. The two cooperatively structured companies want to capitalise on this position and develop the ‘home’ ecosystem with the help of a new digital platform, operated as a joint venture. The platform will provide a full service for homeowners – from buying property, to maintaining it, to selling it on. In addition, customers will be able to receive personal advice from the existing networks of general agencies and bank branches close to where they live. Following its prospective launch in the first six months of 2021, the platform will be continuously enhanced with new products and solutions. Each party will own a 50% stake in the underlying joint venture, subject to regulatory approvals.
“Modern technology opens the way for companies from different industries to undertake completely new forms of strategic collaboration that would have previously been unthinkable,” says Markus Hongler. “La Mobilière is seizing this opportunity, which will benefit our customers and aid in our own evolution as a company.”
“Through this strategic alliance, comprising a joint venture servicing homeowners, Raiffeisen is building on its ambition to become a full-service provider, resulting for us in strong, sustainable differentiation,” concludes Heinz Huber.
La Mobilière (Swiss Mobiliar) is the leading Swiss personal lines insurer as well as the number-one provider of household, SME and pure-risk life policies. Founded in 1826, it is the oldest private insurance company in Switzerland and is still cooperatively structured to this day. Its 80 entrepreneurially run general agencies, operating their own claims service and present at 160 locations, guarantee proximity to over 2.1 million customers. Every third household and every third company in Switzerland is insured by la Mobilière. Active in all lines of insurance, la Mobilière has a workforce of 5,700 and provides 341 trainee positions in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. As at 31 December 2019, its annual premium volume was CHF 3.951 billion.
Raiffeisen Group, the leading Swiss retail bank, is the third-largest force in the Swiss banking sector overall, with 1.9 million cooperative members and 3.5 million customers. The Raiffeisen Group is present at 847 locations throughout Switzerland. The 229 legally autonomous cooperative Raiffeisen banks are part of Raiffeisen Switzerland Cooperative, the strategic leader of the entire Raiffeisen Group. Through group companies, partnerships and affiliates, Raiffeisen offers a full range of products and services to personal and corporate customers. As at 31 December 2019, the Raiffeisen Group had CHF 211 billion in assets under management and CHF 193 billion in loans to clients. The market share in the mortgage business amounts to 17.6%. Total assets are CHF 248 billion.
Pictured: Markus Hongler, CEO of la Mobilière and Heinz Huber, chair of Raiffeisen Switzerland’s Executive Board
