An historic year in brief: AG building on the past to create an even better future

2024 was a momentous year for AG. As the No.1 insurer in both Life and Non-Life in Belgium, AG used 2024 to further reinforce its leadership position while maintaining its focus on growing in a profitable way. And what a year to achieve this. In 2024 AG celebrated its 200-year anniversary, marked by a special visit from King Philippe of Belgium.

Back in 1824 nobody could have predicted that 200 years on, one in two Belgian families would be insured by AG; that over 4,400 employees and close to 5,000 distribution partners would work every day to support 3 million customers; and that AG is Belgium’s largest institutional investor with close to EUR 70 billion in assets under management. Various celebratory events with key stakeholders took place throughout the year, spanning partners and brokers to political and business leaders, and not forgetting employees who participated in a much-loved AG 200-year challenge programme.

A year of progress marked by achievements that had an impact

Despite the challenging economic cycle and continued geopolitical instability, AG reported some important business achievements in 2024, including a range of solutions responding to the challenge of an inverted yield curve. AG’s efforts in the field of sustainability were once more recognised with an elevated Ecovadis Platinum rating, placing AG among the top 1% best performing companies in the world reflecting 30% of products supporting the transition to a more sustainable world; 42 Towards Sustainability labels on investment and savings products even considering much stricter renewal requirements; and EUR 12 billion made in sustainable investments. This year, AG and AG Real Estate proudly announced its part in the first phase of a major new schools-building initiative, the ambitious ‘Scholen van Vlaanderen’ programme. This public-private partnership program (PPP) to modernise the Flemish school infrastructure, received a EUR 400 million investment approval for the first 27 new schools that will accommodate 20,000 students (of the total 80,000).

AG’s Customer Experience strategy implementation is well on track, with new initiatives rolled out including among others new functionalities added to MyAG in 2024, which today connects with some 200,000 app users, with plans to expand the level of engagement in the coming year. Recognising that Generative AI is a potential game-changer for insurers, AG also created a Centre of Excellence and ready-to-deploy proofs of concept.

But all this success starts and ends with its employees, and in 2024 AG was named Top Employer for the 12^th time, backed by historically high e-NPS scores. As part of our commitment to creating a 'Great Place to Grow for All' and reinventing the workplace, AG has redesigned its offices, which were honoured with the "Belfas Facility Project of the Year" award. And in what remains a highly competitive labour market, AG continues to attract top talents with one new person joining AG every single day of the year.

In 2024, we officially concluded Impact24, the Group’s 3-year strategic plan, marking the end of a transformative cycle that has positioned AG as a fundamentally stronger company. This success is the result of making the right strategic choices, which have driven our leadership across all areas. Over this period, AG achieved excellent financial results, a competitive combined ratio, and robust Life margins, while continuing to lead in all lines of business.

We enhanced customer experience and efficiency by integrating key tech and data capabilities, including the completion of a major re-platforming project in 2023. This laid the foundation for AI-driven possibilities with new cloud and data platforms. We also continued to look for growth opportunities in Health, Protection, digital platforms, Life & Savings, Home, and Mobility. Throughout this journey, AG has remained a trusted partner of choice, with strengthened ecosystem building blocks in place across Pension, Home, and Mobility.

Elevating our performance to the next level

AG has built the perfect platform to bridge to the Group’s new strategic cycle – Elevate27, but we also recognise that there are challenges ahead and trends that impact the future. This includes continuing uncertainty in the financial markets and the volatile evolution of interest rates; an avalanche of new regulations both at the Belgian and European level; growing technological developments that require investment; evolving client needs with demands for greater personalisation; and intensified competition across all domains. And of course, the challenge (but also the opportunity) of an ageing society with increased stress around the affordability of pensions and the challenge of preparing for a comfortable retirement.

Through Elevate27, AG will strive to outgrow the market in a profitable way by continuing to focus on AG’s core strengths and targeting additional growth in specific areas like the SME Non-Life market and the pensions market. AG will continue to strengthen its partnerships and focus on creating excellent interaction platforms for the future. We will prioritise improving the customer experience by automating processes using new technologies to build a data driven organisation, with AI high on our agenda. Our commitment to sustainability remains, further strengthening our leading position as a responsible company, insurer, investor and employer.

In creating a strong future, we reflect on our past achievements over 200 years but look forward to what is still to come.

You are reading an article that is part of our Annual Report 2024.