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Company • Key Figures

We care about your employees

 

«In 2019 we continued our growth story and are highly dedicated to a successful future together.»

Christoph Gaus, Group CEO

2019 in numbers

1157.5
+3,8 %
Premiums, consolidated
in USD million
8  %
+1 %
Cost ratio, consolidated
338
+20,8 %
Employees
472,0
+14,6 %
Premiums, core business
in USD million
9
+1
Countries
~ 2 Mio.
Insured persons

Business Report

During the 2019 financial year, elipsLife entered a new phase: we are evolving from an insurance start-up to an established company. The financial year was characterised by a marked premium growth – 14.6% in the core business alone – and the continuation of our expansion strategy. However, the profitability performance and high set-up costs in the new markets led to a loss of USD 23.4 million. As a result, we wish to enhance the quality of our contract portfolio and strengthen our underwriting discipline. As a mature elipsLife, we will maintain our innovative spirit, albeit with a focus on the combination of growth and profitability.

2019 in charts

Premiums and claims

consolidated, in USD million

Cost ratio

consolidated

Premiums and equity

consolidated, in USD million

Result before income tax

consolidated, in USD million

Premiums and claims

core business, in USD million

Cost ratio

core business

Premiums

core business, share by market

Full-time equivalents at end of financial year

* 2010 only Elips Life Ltd, from 2011 consolidated figures. Stated in accordance with Liechtenstein law until 2016, from 2017 according to US GAAP.

On the threshold of a new phase

elipsLife has positioned itself as a specialised, international niche player. Following the close of the 2019 financial year, the company is now on the threshold of a new phase. We are ready to evolve from a successful insurance start-up to an established company. In so doing, we remain committed to the proven success factors of growth, expansion, cost consciousness and customer focus.

Since the company was founded in 2008, the success of elipsLife has been based on our specialised skills, expert knowledge and an IT platform that is scalable worldwide. In the 2019 financial year, this was again the foundation for our expansion into new markets as well as our strong premium growth and low costs. However, the year under review brought both positive and negative developments. Profitability lagged behind our targets and in some areas we suffered technical losses. To ensure continued success in the future, we will deepen our risk awareness and pay greater attention to pricing and portfolio management.

Maintaining client focus

Our working relationship with clients was again of key importance for elipsLife in the year under review. We aim to listen to our clients, understand their needs and find the right solutions for them. Feedback shows that clients perceive us as reliable, flexible and solution-oriented. This is confirmed by the extremely high client retention rate we have achieved. We will continue to make every effort to further strengthen our focus on the market and on clients in the future.

Costs under control

The success of elipsLife is largely thanks to our combination of cost consciousness and high-quality services. The generic, globally scalable IT platform plays a key role here. It allows us to reuse investments across borders and thus greatly reduce our operating costs. Meanwhile, we were able to further automate administrative, non-client-related processes, resulting in additional efficiency gains.

Expansion strategy continued

We continued to pursue our expansion strategy in 2019. In Italy, for example, we reached the break-even point after only three years. In the US, where elipsLife only started its business activities in 2019, we can also look back on an encouraging business performance. In the area of group insurance, we succeeded in establishing business relationships with more than 40 brokers in the Midwest, East Coast and Southwest, and were able to close our first deals.

In the Switzerland/Liechtenstein market, we took a major step into French-speaking Switzerland by concluding an important contract. In the Benelux market, we managed to enter new market segments: we launched a new disability insurance product in the Netherlands and successfully entered the captive reinsurance market.

Premium growth achieved

In 2019, the total premium volume rose to USD 1157.5 million, up from USD 1115.3 million in the prior year. In our strategic core business alone, we recorded growth of 14.6%, with an increase from USD 411.7 million to USD 472.0 million. The core markets of Switzerland/Liechtenstein, with approximately 8.6%, and Benelux, with approximately 15.5%, contributed in particular to this strong premium growth. The new markets of Italy, the US, Germany and Ireland also made a contribution to the very positive growth overall, in some cases with significantly larger premium volumes. Outside our core business, the premium volume in USD declined slightly due to currency effects: in the year under review, the Irish Medex health insurance business recorded a decline in US dollars of 18.1 million, to USD 685.5 million. Overall, the balance sheet total in 2019 rose to USD 2243.4 million, up from USD 1859.2 million in the prior year.

Improving profitability

Our strong growth and successful expansion into new markets in 2019 stood in contrast to our profitability performance and considerable set-up costs in the new markets. While we improved profitability in the Switzerland/Liechtenstein market in daily sickness benefit business, we did not succeed in achieving this in accident business. The high number of claims led to a technical loss in disability insurance. We also recorded a decline in the technical result in one line of business in the Netherlands. These aspects combined resulted in a total loss of USD 23.4 million in the year under review.

We will draw the necessary lessons from our business performance. Working closely with clients and brokers, we aim to further enhance the quality of our contract portfolio while also strengthening our underwriting discipline. Especially in the Switzerland/Liechtenstein market, it is of key importance for us to overcome the profitability problems in accident insurance business.

Ever since elipsLife was founded, its strategy has been aimed at growth through the acquisition of new business. The next phase will now be characterised by a combination of growth and a focus on profitability. With Swiss Re’s ongoing full support, we will deploy our resources efficiently and will continue to expand into new markets.

The step from start-up to established company has already led to some adjustments, and others will follow. This holds true for management as well as the positioning and orientation of business in the markets and the further optimisation of processes. Also, the mature elipsLife will maintain its momentum and innovative spirit.

 

All figures comply with the United States’ Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Medical assessment

Edition 03.2024

It is a central concern of elipsLife that your data is handled responsibly. In this privacy policy, we explain how and for what purpose we process your personal data with regards to the processing of benefit cases and what rights you have in this context.

1. Data controller
The data “controller” is Elips Life Ltd, Industriestrasse 56, 9491 Ruggell, Liechtenstein and its branch offices (collectively “elipsLife” or “we” or “us”).
Should you have any questions regarding this information or how elipsLife processes your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at pbzcyvnapr@ryvcfyvsr.pbz.

2. General data provision
The processing of your data is essential for the medical assessment. If you do not provide us with your personal data, it will not generally be possible to insure the requested benefits or such insurance will be limited to the legal minimum.

3. Procurement, storage, use and deletion of data by elipsLife
To the extent necessary for the medical assessment, elipsLife procures, stores and uses the personal data provided by you for the purpose of the medical assessment. This comprises information regarding your health as well as information that elipsLife obtains, with your consent, from medical service providers (doctors, hospitals, physiotherapists, etc.) and other insurers (disability insurance, unemployment insurance, military insurance, occupational benefits institutions, private insurance, etc.). elipsLife uses this information for medical assessments and quality assurance. The data concerning this medical assessment is stored electronically at elipsLife and deleted after expiry of the legally prescribed archiving obligation.

4. Disclosure to entities outside elipsLife
4.1 Forwarding of data to medical experts
To complete the medical assessment, it may be necessary to consult medical experts. In this case, elipsLife will forward your personal data to medical experts to the extent necessary for the medical assessment and for as long as your data is used there for this purpose and until the results are sent back to elipsLife. The persons working for elipsLife and the experts are released from their duty of confidentiality with regard to this data.

4.2 Assignment of tasks to other entities (organisations or persons)
elipsLife may delegate certain tasks, such as contract administration or claims processing, which may involve the collection, processing or use of your personal data, to third parties. These may be either affiliated Group companies or other entities in Switzerland or the European Economic Area (EEA). According to the Federal Council, these states guarantee secure and trustworthy data protection.

elipsLife may also engage any third parties for the provision of other services. A current list can be found on the internet at www.elipslife.com/en/che/Downloads.

4.3 Forwarding of data to reinsurers and co-insurers
To ensure the fulfilment of our obligations, elipsLife has concluded contracts with reinsurance companies that assume the risk in whole or in part, or a specific risk is insured jointly with a co-insurer. In addition, it is possible for the reinsurer to support elipsLife due to its special expertise in carrying out medical assessments and evaluating procedures. To enable the reinsurer and any co-insurer to form their own opinion of the medical assessment, elipsLife may submit documents relating to your medical assessment to the reinsurer or co-insurer. This is the case in particular if the total sum of the benefits to be insured is high.

4.4 Forwarding of data to your employer and its insurance broker
elipsLife does not disclose any information about your diagnosis to your employer or its insurance broker. However, if required for processing the insurance contract with your employer, your employer may obtain information about whether you were accepted by the employee benefits institution and, if so, under what conditions.

5. Consultation of personal data held by third parties
To complete the medical assessment, it may be necessary to request information from persons or organisations that have access to your health data and other sensitive personal data (e.g. doctors, hospitals or other insurers). The retrieval of this information generally also requires personal data to be disclosed to the appropriate units. elipsLife will not inform you separately about obtaining information from third parties for the purpose of the medical assessment. However, you can request information at any time about which of your personal data is processed.
Requests will only be made to those persons or organisations with access to information relevant to the medical assessment and only to the extent necessary for the medical assessment.

6. Your rights
You have certain rights as defined by the relevant legal conditions and framework. You have the right:
1. To request information from us as to whether and which data we process about you;
2. To request that your data be corrected by us if it is inaccurate;
3. To request that we delete your data if we are not obliged or entitled to process it further;
4. To object to our processing of your data (this generally makes it impossible to provide services);
5. To ask us to hand over certain personal data in a conventional electronic format or transfer the data to another controller.

If you wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us in writing at pbzcyvnapr@ryvcfyvsr.pbz or by post (Elips Life Ltd, Compliance, Industriestrasse 56, LI-9491 Ruggell).
If you are not satisfied with the information provided, you can also contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern (e-mail: info@edoeb.admin.ch) or the Data Protection Office (DSS), Städtle 38, P.O. Box 684, LI-9490 Vaduz (e-mail: info.dss@llv.li).

7. Updating our privacy policy
elipsLife reserves the right to modify this privacy policy without prior notice to take account of current statutory provisions and changed business procedures. We will actively inform persons whose contact details are registered with us about major changes as and when they occur, provided this is possible without disproportionate effort. As a general rule, the data protection declaration in its current version at the start of processing applies for data processing. This data protection declaration does not form part of the contract.

Last update: March 2024


 

Processing of benefit cases

Edition 03 2024

It is a central concern of elipsLife that your data is handled responsibly. In this privacy policy, we explain how and for what purpose we process your personal data with regards to the processing of benefit cases and what rights you have in this context.

1. Data controller
The data “controller” is Elips Life Ltd, Industriestrasse 56, 9491 Ruggell, Liechtenstein and its branch offices (collectively “elipsLife” or “we” or “us”).
Should you have any questions regarding this information or how elipsLife processes your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at pbzcyvnapr@ryvcfyvsr.pbz.

2. General data provision
The processing of your data is essential to assess the claim. If you do not provide us with your personal data, it will not generally be possible to provide services.

3. Procurement, storage, use and deletion of data by elipsLife
To the extent necessary for the assessment of benefits and the provision of services, elipsLife procures, saves and uses the personal data communicated by you in this claim and in the future. This comprises information regarding your health as well as information that elipsLife obtains, with your consent, from medical service providers (doctors, hospitals, physiotherapists, etc.) and other insurers (disability insurance, unemployment insurance, military insurance, occupational benefits institutions, private insurance, etc.). In connection with the provision of services, this may also include information that elipsLife requires for the payment of benefits (account details etc.). elipsLife uses this information to review the claim, to provide services, if necessary to reclaim benefits from other compulsory insurance providers and for quality assurance. The data concerning your claim is stored electronically at elipsLife and deleted after expiry of the legally prescribed archiving obligation.

4. Disclosure to entities outside elipsLife
4.1 Forwarding of data to medical experts
It may be necessary to consult a medical expert to review your claim. In this case, elipsLife will forward your personal data to medical experts to the extent necessary to review the obligation to pay benefits and for as long as your data is used there for this purpose and until the results are sent back to elipsLife. The persons working for elipsLife and the experts are released from their duty of confidentiality with regard to this data.

4.2 Assignment of tasks to other entities (organisations or persons)
elipsLife may delegate certain tasks, such as contract administration or claims processing, which may involve the collection, processing or use of your personal data, to third parties. These may be either affiliated Group companies or other entities in Switzerland or the European Economic Area (EEA). According to the Federal Council, these states guarantee secure and trustworthy data protection.
elipsLife may also engage any third parties for the provision of other services. A current list can be found on the internet at www.elipslife.com/en/che/Downloads.

4.3 Forwarding of data to reinsurers and co-insurers
To ensure the fulfilment of our obligations, elipsLife has concluded contracts with reinsurance companies that assume the risk in whole or in part, or a specific risk is insured jointly with a co-insurer. In addition, it is possible for the reinsurer to support elipsLife due to its special expertise in assessing benefits and evaluating procedures. To enable the reinsurer and any co-insurer to form their own picture of the insured event, elipsLife may submit documents relating to your claim to the reinsurer or co-insurer. This is particularly the case if the total benefits are high.
If the reinsurers have assumed the hedging of the risk, they can check whether elipsLife has correctly assessed a claim. Data on existing contracts may be passed on to reinsurers in order to process premiums and claims. When forwarding this information, elipsLife endeavours to anonymise personal data for the aforementioned purposes as far as possible. However, personal data is also used in individual cases. These will only be used by the reinsurers for the aforementioned purposes.

4.4 Forwarding of data to your employer and its insurance broker
elipsLife does not disclose any information about your diagnosis to your employer or its insurance broker. However, to the extent necessary for processing the insurance contract with your employer, the latter may receive information as to whether and under what conditions elipsLife provides benefits (e.g. regarding our obligation to pay benefits, the duration and degree of incapacity to work/disability or the status of the benefit assessment).

4.5 Passing on to any subsequent insurer
Your employer can change insurer. Claims which are still pending at the time of the change will as a rule be taken over by the new insurer. In these cases, all information relating to a claim is transmitted to the new insurer.

4.6 Passing on to other insurers
Insofar as elipsLife is legally obliged, as is generally the case with state and mandatory insurance or multiple insurance, or if you expressly authorise them, elipsLife will also disclose information regarding your claim to benefits to other insurance companies involved.

5. Consultation of personal data held by third parties
In order to assess the obligation to provide benefits, it may be necessary to request information from bodies that have your health data and other sensitive personal data (e.g. doctors, hospitals or other insurers). The retrieval of this information generally also requires personal data to be disclosed to the appropriate units. In addition, in order to review the obligation to pay benefits, it may be necessary for elipsLife to review the information about your health situation that you have provided to justify claims or that results from documents submitted (e.g. invoices, ordinances, expert reports) or communications, e.g. from a doctor or other member of a healthcare profession. elipsLife will not inform you separately about obtaining information from third parties for the purpose of the medical assessment. However, you can request information at any time about which of your personal data is processed.
Only those persons or entities which have information relevant to the claim will be asked and only to the extent necessary for the review of the obligation to pay benefits.

6. Data processing in case management
Data acquired, stored or used as part of case management is processed exclusively by case management and is only accessible to it. Your personal data will only be passed on to third parties with your express consent. This applies in particular to protocols and associated reintegration plans, which we draw up as part of discussions in which you also take part, with employers, doctors, therapists and other parties involved. The recipients of this data are listed in the distribution list of the minutes and include the parties involved, the disability insurance (IV) and the benefits department of elipsLife.

7. Your rights
You have certain rights as defined by the relevant legal conditions and framework. You have the right:
1. To request information from us as to whether and which data we process about you;
2. To request that your data be corrected by us if it is inaccurate;
3. To request that we delete your data if we are not obliged or entitled to process it further;
4. To object to our processing of your data (this generally makes it impossible to provide services);
5. To ask us to hand over certain personal data in a conventional electronic format or transfer the data to another controller.
If you wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us in writing at pbzcyvnapr@ryvcfyvsr.pbz or by post (Elips Life Ltd, Compliance, Industriestrasse 56, LI-9491 Ruggell).
If you are not satisfied with the information provided, you can also contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern (e-mail: info@edoeb.admin.ch) or the Data Protection Office (DSS), Städtle 38, P.O. Box 684, LI-9490 Vaduz (e-mail: info.dss@llv.li).

8. Updating our privacy policy
elipsLife reserves the right to modify this privacy policy without prior notice to take account of current statutory provisions and changed business procedures. We will actively inform persons whose contact details are registered with us about major changes as and when they occur, provided this is possible without disproportionate effort. As a general rule, the data protection declaration in its current version at the start of processing applies for data processing. This data protection declaration does not form part of the contract.

Last update: March 2024

Website users

Edition 03.2024

It is a central concern of elipsLife that your data is handled responsibly. In this privacy policy, we explain how and for what purpose we obtain and process your personal data that we collect via the elipsLife website, www.elipsLife.com, and associated services (hereinafter also referred to as the “website”) and which statutory data protection rights you have.

1. Data controller
The data “controller” is Elips Life Ltd, Industriestrasse 56, 9491 Ruggell, Liechtenstein and its branch offices (collectively “elipsLife” or “we” or “us”). Elips Life Ltd is part of the International division of the Swiss Life Group.
Should you have any questions regarding this information or how elipsLife processes your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at pbzcyvnapr@ryvcfyvsr.pbz.

2. What data we collect when you use our website
When you access our website, elipsLife collects the following data:
- Your contact details, such as name, address, telephone number and e-mail address
- Information you can give us when you contact us
- If you accept cookies, please read our Cookie Policy

3. Cookies, web tracking and similar technologies
When you visit our website, we automatically collect information such as your IP address (the unique address that identifies your device from all others on the internet), the type of device you use (e.g. tablet, phone or PC), and cookies from your device.
Our website contains web technologies that collect information from your movements on our website and the information you enter. We use this information to improve the design of our website and the services we provide to you by improving the customer experience.
Cookies are also used to compile anonymous website usage statistics, prevent fraud and measure the effectiveness of our services.
For more information about cookies and web tracking, see our Cookie Policy.

4. For what purposes we use your data
Together with carefully selected third parties, we collect and use your data to comply with our legal obligations and use it for the following legitimate business purposes:
- To communicate with you about products you own or services you use;
- To detect and prevent fraud and other criminal offences;
- To verify your identity when you contact us or use our services;
- To find out your views on our services;
- To conduct statistical analyses and to develop and improve the products and services we offer;
- To operate, test and secure our IT systems, offices and facilities;
- To maintain our accounts and records;
- To investigate and handle complaints and to answer queries.
We keep the amount of data collected and the extent of processing to the minimum required to fulfil these legitimate business purposes.

5. Retention period
Your data will only be retained for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and as long as we are legally or contractually obliged to retain it.

6. Parties with whom we share data
As required, we will only pass on your personal data as follows:
- to other Swiss Life International companies or companies affiliated to us
- to affiliated companies, including reinsurance companies, and our other suppliers and service providers (for the services offered to us; see the list of service providers)

7. Where we transfer data to
elipsLife may also transfer your data to other countries of the European Economic Area (EEA). According to the Federal Council, these states guarantee secure and trustworthy data protection.

8. Automated decision-making and profiling
We do not carry out any profiling or make automated decisions for the users of our website.

9. Your rights
You have certain rights as defined by the relevant legal conditions and framework. You have the right:
1. To request information from us as to whether and which data we process about you;
2. To request that your data be corrected by us if it is inaccurate;
3. To request that we delete your data if we are not obliged or entitled to process it further;
4. To object to our processing of your data (this generally makes it impossible to provide services);
5. To ask us to hand over certain personal data in a conventional electronic format or transfer the data to another controller.
If you wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us in writing at pbzcyvnapr@ryvcfyvsr.pbz or by post (Elips Life Ltd, Compliance, Industriestrasse 56, LI-9491 Ruggell).
If you are not satisfied with the information provided, you can also contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern (e-mail: info@edoeb.admin.ch) or the Data Protection Office (DSS), Städtle 38, P.O. Box 684, LI-9490 Vaduz (e-mail: info.dss@llv.li).

10. Updating our privacy policy
elipsLife reserves the right to modify this privacy policy without prior notice to take account of current statutory provisions and changed business procedures. We will actively inform persons whose contact details are registered with us about major changes as and when they occur, provided this is possible without disproportionate effort. As a general rule, the data protection declaration in its current version at the start of processing applies for data processing. This data protection declaration does not form part of the contract.

Last update: October 2023