A milestone year of celebration and achievement

In 2024, we stepped back in time to where it all began. We took stock of the present and the impact made. And we lifted the curtain on the future and what is still to come.

2024 marked our 200 years in business  

2024 was a special milestone for Ageas, signifying the birth of our Belgian entity AG 200 years ago. Since 1824, AG has reshaped the insurance sector and Belgian society by constantly adapting to an ever-evolving world, using change as an opportunity to make that world a better place. From a solid Belgian anchor, Ageas has gone on to build an extensive international network comprising strong local champions across Europe and Asia. We proudly celebrated this anniversary with AG and all our stakeholders recognising the key role that each play in our Group’s successful history.

We navigated volatility and rose to the challenge 

In 2024, we closed our strategic cycle Impact24 and announced its successor, Elevate27. Looking back on the past three years, we can confidently say we have demonstrated our Group’s ability to grow and to adapt to volatile market conditions. And this was certainly reflected in the development of our new strategy, ensuring we continue to address the evolving financial and non-financial expectations of all our stakeholders.   

As we look more closely at events in 2024, geopolitical conflicts around the world continued to have a devastating impact on so many people’s lives. While first and foremost human tragedies, these events also influence market sentiment.  

We saw at first hand just how quickly economies can shift. After an initial period of relative stability, markets became volatile, reflected in the evolution of growth, inflation and interest rates. Ageas has shown remarkable agility and adaptability in facing these global challenges. Our unique profile and diversified business model proved key, allowing us to combine the strengths of our local champions with the power and leverage of the Group. 

We kicked off 2024 with a realigned leadership team 

To better align with our Group profile, the four businesses – Europe, Asia, Belgium and Reinsurance – are now all represented in our Executive Committee, complemented by a newly created function of Managing Director Business Development. The team was reinforced by several new appointments bringing in new expertise and fresh perspectives from inside and outside. This new Executive Committee allows us to leverage even further on our strengths as a Group, by incorporating corporate and business decision making into one place.  

Meanwhile, we said a heartfelt thank you and goodbye to long-standing executives Antonio Cano, Gary Crist, and Steven Braekeveldt (resp. former MD Europe, CEO Asia and CEO Portugal) for their hugely positive impact on Ageas during their tenure. 

Impact24 delivered… providing a solid steppingstone for the future  

We ended Impact24 a stronger Group than when we started. As a long-term sustainable growth strategy, Impact24 was about unlocking the full potential of the business and daring to explore new avenues for growth. We went above and beyond and reached our financial and operational targets, achieving sustainable growth, strengthening our profitability, and diversifying cash flows. Along the way, we gained invaluable experience that we take forward into the next strategic cycle.  

Our strong 2024 results confirm just how far we have come. We grew inflows by 10%, increased the profitability of our business and delivered a Net Operating Result of EUR 1.24 billion at the upper half of our guidance, while maintaining a strong cash and solvency position. This strong performance enabled us to announce a total gross cash dividend of EUR 3.50 for 2024, consistent with our Impact24 commitment.

Our partnership approach is the cornerstone of our unique business model. In 2024, we celebrated 20 years of valued partnerships with our Portuguese bank partner Millennium bcp, and the Muang Thai Group and Kasikornbank in Thailand. And following its acquisition of Ageas capital from Fosun, BNP Paribas’ total shareholding increased to 15%, confirming the long-term value of our partnership.

Tech and Data remain important sources of competitive advantage. We continued the process of modernizing our IT & Data platforms group-wide with four entities now benefitting from modernised technology and data platforms and 7 others in the pipeline. This work will help us further strengthen our respective market leadership positions. We consider it an essential prerequisite to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs in our processes, while providing a platform to future-proof our business for the benefit of the customer. These strengthened platforms will also over time increase our speed to market. And of course, AI remains the talk of town. We outperformed an important industry benchmark on AI capabilities, providing confidence in our approach and response to this fast-moving trend. We developed internal standards providing clear guardrails to ensure all our people can explore the opportunities offered by AI (which we prefer to refer to as ‘Augmented Intelligence’) in a safe and responsible way. To date, we can rely on a large and growing pool of Data & (Gen)AI professionals who will deliver over 300 AI solutions across our value chain designed to elevate our performance group-wide and drive operational efficiency, technical and commercial excellence, and an improved customer experience.

In Impact24, we also set out several non-financial KPI’s in our strategic plan for the first time, and we were able to deliver on most of these. We are particularly proud that: 

• We have achieved top quartile customer NPS (net promotor scores) across six operating companies thanks to several local and group-led initiatives designed to improve the customer journey.  

• We have strengthened our efforts to create a Great place to Grow for our people resulting in top quartile Employee NPS scores and five European entities receiving the Top Employer certification. And we received similar HR recognitions in other Ageas entities around the world.  

• We have put sustainability at the heart of our business, which has been made palpable with 29% of Gross Written Premiums (vs target of 25%) coming from products that incentivise customers to make a sustainable choice. 

• We have invested EUR 14.6 billion in environmental and social assets, exceeding by large our strategic objective of EUR 10 billion. And we evaluate ESG topics in all our investment decisions.  

• We have been recognised for our global efforts to integrate ESG into all our business processes with ESG rating agencies elevating Ageas closer and closer to top quartile.  

• We are proud that we have been included in the BEL® ESG-Index and that our Belgian entity AG is ranked among the 1% most sustainable companies in the world through the EcoVadis platinum label.

All of this was achieved amid significant changes in regulatory requirements for financial and non-financial reporting.   We are grateful to our people and partners for the positive impact they made on our stakeholders along our Impact24 journey. And it doesn’t stop here. Our societal role and instinct to think about the long term have served our business well for 200 years and will remain core fundamentals of our strategy.   

Ready to elevate our performance to the next level 

Ageas’s new strategic plan Elevate27 increases our focus on sustained profitable growth and accelerating our performance in the areas that play to our strengths. Solutions for an ageing population and for SMEs are proven strengths within our expertise and we are confident we can step up the Group’s performance in these high-potential markets. Our new plan also underscores the importance of technical insurance and operational excellence to optimise customer service and employee experience and improve our business’ margins. And in a fast-changing distribution landscape, we will focus on futureproofing our distribution capabilities and enriching the experience of our customers. We add Tech, Data and AI into the mix as critical success factors. 

To breathe life into Elevate27 of course requires people. More than 50,000 people across the Group are joining us on this journey. In an increasingly complex and fast-changing environment, it is our priority to ensure our people have access to the right resources to constantly upskill and reskill their expertise. 

Adding scale to a core European market for the Group 

In December last year, before the ink was even dry on Impact24, we announced a new 20-year strategic partnership with Saga plc in the UK and the acquisition of its underwriting activities.  

Earlier this year, we also acquired 10% of Taiping Pension’s enlarged share capital, further diversifying our positioning and giving us access to the large and rapidly growing pension savings market in China. Taiping Pension is one of the largest pensions insurance companies in China and subsidiary of our long-standing strategic partner China Taiping. 

These decisions align perfectly with our Elevate27 ambition to further strengthen our business focus on an ageing society in which Ageas already has a solid reputation. The transactions allow us to increase Ageas’s presence in the UK personal lines insurance market and the steadily growing Chinese pensions market. 

On reflection, if you would ask for our main take-away from 2024, it would be to learn from the past, live in the present, and set the path for the future.

Thank you very much for your continued trust in our Group. 

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