Pohjola Insurance: An exceptionally large amount of major property damage occurred to personal customers, with many losing their homes or holiday homes in a fire
In 2024, more accidents occurred to Pohjola Insurance customers than ever before. Personal customers in particular suffered significantly more major losses, and cases of common cold remain frequent.
Pohjola Insurance’s claims expenditures grew by four per cent in 2024, exceeding 1.12 billion euros. 94 per cent of reported losses were compensated for.
“The start of the year saw many accidents occurring to property, cars and people, with most being due to frost and slippery road conditions. The loss rate levelled off towards the end of the year, but the overall number for the year was high, exceeding a million. This is the largest number of annual accidents in Pohjola Insurance’s claims history,” summarises Sari Styrman, Insurance Director, Claims Settlement.
Record number of losses caused by frost – personal customers were hit by an exceptionally large number of major losses
Last year was exceptional from the perspective of accidents caused by natural phenomena. The season of frost at the start of the year especially resulted in many losses over a wide area. For example, compensation for losses related to leaking pipes in building saw an increase of 44% between January and June compared to the previous year, and 91% between January and March.
“With climate change, we will see more extreme weather events in the future. In addition to the frost at the start of the year, storms and heavy rains caused damage during the previous year. According to the statistics of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, there were 42 stormy days in Finland in 2024, which is the second-highest number in the last ten years. The storm at the start of November caused a particular spike in losses and hit households in Southwest Finland and Satakunta in particular. The Jari storm at the end of November also caused a significant spike,” says Styrman.
In addition to losses caused by natural phenomena, personal customers were significantly hit by a larger number of major property losses, i.e. losses with the cost of compensation exceeding 300,000 euros. Underlying these losses were natural phenomena, but there were other reasons for the losses: losses grew by up to 73 per cent from 2023.
“In particular, there is a marked increase in property damage caused by fires. This means that many people in Finland have lost their homes or holiday homes, for example. In various losses, the underlying reason was the frosty season at the start of the year and heating: a fireplace used after a long period of non-use, additional heaters or overloaded electrical systems caused most of the fire damage,” Styrman observes.
The growth of claims paid for respiratory tract infections has topped, with cases of falls and skin diseases being compensated more than previously
The use of health insurance continued to grow: in 2024, claims paid increased by more than 10% year on year. 153 million euros in claims was paid for Health Insurance in 2024.
“Acute cases of respiratory tract infections are highlighted in the claims as usual. Claims paid for these have grown sharply since the coronavirus pandemic, but the growth stopped during last year. For common cold cases, claims paid continued to increase over the last year, but less has been paid for ear infection claims than in the previous year,” estimates Styrman.
According to statistics, laboratory examinations related to respiratory tract infections have become more common: claims paid for them grew by over 31 per cent compared to the previous year. This is assumed to reflect the resilience of circulating viruses and bacteria, as well as increased interest in the cause of infections.
After acute respiratory tract infections, claims were mostly paid for cases of skin disease and falls. In 2024, claims paid for skin diseases grew by 14 per cent, and claims paid for falls grew by 11 per cent compared to the previous year. Cases of falls usually occur between December and March.
“The most significant growth in claims paid was related to mental health and behavioural disorders, for which the claims paid increased by 47 per cent. The share of claims paid for cases of ADHD have grown in particular, with a 63 per cent increase compared to 2023,” Styrman points out.
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Pohjola Insurance is Finland’s leading non-life insurer with a total of 2.5 million private and corporate customers. It provides an extensive range of non-life insurance services to private, corporate and institutional clients. Pohjola Insurance is part of OP Financial Group which is Finland's largest financial services group.