The Zurich Group is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and it has been continuously present in the Grand Duchy for 135 of those years. This presence is seen today with Leudelange-based Zurich Eurolife, which offers group life and disability insurance in 11 markets across Europe. Their policies cover 160,000 employees, a figure that is set to increase to 220,000 by the year’s end. Zurich Eurolife is part of Zurich Integrated Benefits, a new business unit launched within the Zurich Group and led by Wendy Liu, who is also the Chairwoman of the Board of Zurich Eurolife. This new business unit was created to better address emerging market needs and cater to workforces that are becoming more diverse as new forms of employment arise. Under this new umbrella, Zurich Eurolife is led by CEO Mr Xavier Nevez. It provides a service that is both innovative and evolutionary but perfectly aligned with its history of underwriting group risk and disability risk with a high focus on its customers: to be there when they need it. For Zurich Eurolife, keeping up with changing employment situations is all part of its mission, covering local employees or expatriates.
Luxembourg, a perfect home base
Much like Luxembourg itself, Zurich Eurolife stands for stability, reliability and a long-term vision.
“These are values that incidentally align with Switzerland as well, where the group’s headquarters are located. In fact, Luxembourg and Switzerland are two of just a handful of countries that have AAA ratings from all three major rating agencies, which offers a great selling point,” says Miloslav Cutka, Head of Market Management. Zurich Eurolife provides group life and disability insurance for domestic and international mobile employees. This focus on a specific clientele allows Zurich Eurolife to offer solutions that are highly tailored. Because they are very familiar with these segments, they have a vast amount of data at their disposal, and the more data you have, the better you can assess risk and provide long-term support to client needs.
Security and predictability are paramount
Predictability, trust and the ability to honour long-term commitments are paramount. “Our clients trust us because they understand how we operate,” explains Zurich Eurolife CEO Xavier Nevez. “They know that for us security is everything, particularly because that is what we offer our clients and their employees. At Zurich, we are committed to inspiring confidence in our society.”
“Our clients value our long-term relationship approach, our underwriting expertise and the robustness of the Zurich Group,” he adds. “In the markets and segments where we operate, we take a financially sustainable approach for our clients, adapting and tailoring our pricing to their exact situation.” This careful approach allows them to fully deliver at what Mr Nevez describes as the moment of truth, i.e. when they process a claim and approve it. “We pay quickly, which we are very happy to do,” he says. “When we pay a claim, that means that we are helping someone in distress, and that is our core mission.”
Clients at the centre
Mr Miloslav Cutka explains that an important part of their business model is to make things easy for the client, which is where digital tools come into play. Zurich Eurolife has prioritised, making things administratively simple both for companies and covered employees. Also, they work very hard to truly engage with their clients, to empower them in terms of covering new employees and also being able to educate employees about benefits. “Transforming employee benefits into personalised experiences to help the workforce thrive is our vision,” he adds. Despite the staggering amount of data that is required to assess risk and offer policies, at the end of the day, life and disability insurance is simply about security. Being able to provide this security, is a very powerful asset for employers both to attract and retain talent, says Mr Miloslav Cutka. “Security and peace of mind are so valuable.”