Varma

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Customers are at the heart of Varma employees’ work

Varma’s success is based on competent personnel efficiently handling our customers’ pension cover. Customer focus is at the core of Varma’s expert work and operational development. Service that is appreciated by our customers is the result of broad competence and co-operation.

In 2015, we broadly introduced the lean concept in the customer-oriented development of our operations. We are using lean in change management and agile renewal. During the year under review, we improved the efficiency of around 20 processes with the help of lean.

Varma’s personnel carry out demanding expert work that is meaningful for society and requires continuous development and renewal. We have been preparing for the upcoming pension reform through training and by improving our customer service. In autumn 2015, we launched training to strengthen the strategic competence and networking of our experts.

At Varma, supervisory work consists of productive and inspiring management based on coaching and measurable results. Coaching sessions support everyday work and bring agility to development work.

We take care of Varma employees’ workability

As a strong expert in workability management we also take care of the workability of our own personnel. We want to ensure that our experts are equipped to provide high-quality customer service. Varma has been successful in managing the workability of its personnel. As proof of this, we belong to the lowest disability contribution category.

We conduct regular employee satisfaction surveys. According to the 2015 survey, Varma employees are especially satisfied with the improvement in customer focus. The employees would like to see more ambition and innovativeness in the activities. Overall employee satisfaction rated 8.3 on a scale of 4–10.

Varma employees also participated in the Healthy Financial Industry project by the Federation of Finnish Financial Services, which focused on creating a vision of the changing work within the financial industry. According to the results, the future of customer service will be divided between digital & mobile services and personal services that focus on specific customer issues. The multichannel nature of customer service already shows in Varma employees’ work.

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The year in brief

In 2015, Varma’s return on investments stood at 4.2 per cent. The value of investments increased to EUR 41.3 billion. Premiums written increased clearly, and operating expense efficiency also showed positive development. Solvency capital was strong at EUR 10.0 billion.
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President & CEO review

2015 was a good year for Varma, and we succeeded well according to all key indicators: we maintained our strong solvency position, our premium income increased, we processed pension applications faster than before and our operational efficiency is at a competitive level.
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Lower earnings-related pension contributions for customers

Varma is a solvent company. That means the best client bonuses in the sector and lower pension contributions for our customers. Our modern digital services provide our customers with a comprehensive set of tools that enable them to take care of their pension matters easily.
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Varma for entrepreneurs

Varma is a solvent company and thus a safe choice. Varma’s extensive services, provided through various channels, make attending to insurance matters easy.
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Pension cover

The number of pensioners and the euro amount of pensions paid is constantly rising at Varma. Our task is to pay pensions correctly and on time to an increasing number of pensioners.
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Workability and good working life

Workability management promotes companies’ competitiveness and productivity and the societal goal of longer careers. Our workability services improve employee well-being and working life at our client companies.
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Varma’s targets and strategy

Varma's core task is to secure pensions. Our main goals of strong solvency, good development in premiums written, high quality pension services and efficient operations, also stem from this.
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Operating environment

The economic year 2015 ended in a climate of turbulence. Uncertainty in the global economy is again on the rise.
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Solvency

Varma’s strong solvency secures pensions. Thanks to its high solvency, Varma has been paying very competitive client bonuses for several years now.
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Fixed income investments

The return on fixed-income investments remained slightly negative, at -0.4 per cent. They accounted for 30 (32) per cent of investments and had a market value of EUR 12.3 (12.8) billion.
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Equity investments

Equity investments performed the best of all asset classes. They accounted for 45 (41) per cent of Varma’s investments and yielded a return of 8.8 (9.1) per cent.
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Real estate investments

Varma’s real estate investment portfolio amounted to EUR 3.9 (3.8) billion at the end of 2015, and the total return stood at 3.3 (3.8) per cent.
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Other investments

Other investments accounted for 17 (20) per cent of Varma’s portfolio.
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Varma’s investment principles

With EUR 41.3 billion in investment assets, Varma is Finland’s largest private investor. We invest the assets to secure present and future pensions.
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Targets and measures

On the basis of the materiality assessment, we defined Varma’s CSR targets, indicators and measures.
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Personnel

Varma’s success is based on competent personnel efficiently handling our customers’ pension cover. Customer focus is at the core of Varma’s expert work and operational development. Service that is appreciated by our customers is the result of broad competence and co-operation.
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Responsible investment

Responsibility is an integral part of our investment operations and ownership practices. In 2015, we looked into the responsibility of our hedge funds and decided to determine the carbon footprint of our investments.