Handelsbanken Liv beats the industry average - again
Over the past year, savers with traditional life insurance policies in Handelsbanken Liv saw their capital grow by 7.42 percent. This is the fourth year in a row that the company's customers received a higher growth in value than the industry average for life insurance companies with traditional savings, which was 5.83 percent.*
Ever since Handelsbanken Liv was demutalised in 2002, its customers have benefited from this in comparison with the average return for the industry. Over the last five years, a customer with SEK 100,000 in insurance capital with Handelsbanken Liv has received an increase in value of SEK 23,244 before charges and tax. The average for the insurance industry for the same period was SEK 14,769.
In 2006, Handelsbanken Liv's total return for traditional insurance was 8.24 percent. This is higher than the guaranteed yield, which is between 3 and 5 percent, depending on the year the policy was taken out. This means the profit is shared, as the customers receive 90 percent of the total return while the company receives 10 percent. This means that every individual customer saw their capital adjusted upward by 7.42 percent.
If the return had been lower than the guaranteed rate with a consequent deficit in the guaranteed capital, Handelsbanken Liv would have paid the difference to the customer.
Handelsbanken Liv is Sweden's first non-mutual life insurance company in Sweden to offer traditional life insurance. It was also the first company in Sweden to offer old and new customers full rights to transfer insurance as well as to change between insurance with guaranteed return and unit-linked insurance within the company.
Handelsbanken Liv clearly displays all fees; and customers always know how large a share of the total return they receive each year.
The investments were broken down as follows, as at 31 December 2006:
Equities: 34 percent
Fixed income instruments: 58 percent
Property: 6 percent
Alternative investments: 2 percent
Other key figures and results for Handelsbanken Liv will be reported in conjunction with Handelsbanken's annual report on 20 February.
For further information, please contact:
Michael Zell, CEO Handelsbanken Liv, tel. +46 8 701 74 10
Johan Lagerström, Head, Corporate Communications, Handelsbanken tel. +46 8 701 13 95, mobile: +46 70 265 80 14
*The industry average is based on the bonus rates of all life insurance companies. However, those companies with traditional insurance that instead report yield rates (KPA, Nordea and SPP) are not included in the calculations since they have not yet reported their full-year figures. Source: Swedish Insurance Federation statistics, 2 January 2007, Average bonus rate, 2006.