Gross written premiums

Gross written premiums increased by € 153 million to € 4,276 million (2021: € 4,124 million), mostly due to organic growth in P&C and Disability, which more than offset a decrease in Health. The total organic growth of P&C and Disability combined was 9.1% (€ 263 million), driven by increased sales volumes, tariff adjustments (mainly in Disability) and the closing of a new collective disability insurance agreement as part of the collective labour agreement for the nursing and home care employee sector. In Health, premiums decreased by € 111 million due to a less competitive price proposition.

Operating result

The operating result of the Non-life segment remained relatively stable at € 325 million (2021: € 322 million). In P&C, the result reflects the impact of February storms (€ 39 million) and an ongoing normalisation of claims following the abolishing of COVID-19 restrictions. Contribution from Disability increased, driven mainly by a strong performance in Individual Disability and Sickness leave. Underlying performance was strong, with healthy underwriting results in both P&C and Disability, offsetting negative developments in Health due to a decrease in the portfolio and its impact on unfavourable claims development.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses increased by € 17 million (6.2%) to € 286 million, mostly driven by organic growth in P&C and Disability. At segment level, the cost ratio deteriorated slightly due to a shift in the business mix. In P&C and Disability, the cost ratio improved by 0.2%-points due to volume growth at relatively fixed costs.

Combined ratio

The combined ratio of P&C and Disability remained stable at 91.7%¹, which was better than the target range of 93-95%.

In P&C, the combined ratio amounted to 93.9% (2021: 91.9%). Despite the increase of 2%-points, the combined ratio and underlying business performance remained strong. 2021 was impacted positively by COVID-19 restrictions, partly offset by the July floods and reserve strengthening. This year, weather related calamities (the ‘triple storm’ in February) and large claims had a higher impact than last year, and the level of claims rose due to increased traffic intensity as lockdown measures were lifted.

In Disability, the combined ratio amounted to 89.3% (2020: 91.6%). The combined ratio improved by 2.3%-points, mainly due to improved underwriting results in Individual Disability and Sickness leave.

The combined ratio of Health deteriorated by 4.6%-points to 100.8%. In 2021, Health benefited from government support relating to COVID-19 and an extraordinary inflow of customers. This year, a net outflow and its impact on unfavourable claims experience resulted in an increase of the combined ratio. Due to a large inflow of customers (to be insured in 2023), acquisition costs were taken into account in 2022, leading to an adverse impact of 0.8%-points on the combined ratio.

Result before tax

The result before tax decreased by € 271 million to € 87 million (2021: € 357 million), mainly due to a negative impact from incidental items. Indirect investment income decreased by € 184 million, mostly due to lower realised gains and losses, lower fair value revaluations and higher impairments. The result of other incidentals decreased by € 90 million, primarily driven by a strengthening of Disability provisions relating to the 10% increase in the legal minimum wage as at 1 January 2023 (€ 91 million). This includes a € 27 million reclassification of the HY 2022 operating result to other incidentals relating to the strengthening of Disability provisions on the anticipated 2.5% increase in the minimum wage at that time.

• ¹The combined ratio excludes the impact of the 10% increase of the legal minimum wage for the part that is above a regular indexation of 2.1%. The additional increase is considered an incidental item. The impact of this on the combined ratio is 3.0%-point.