Strong OCG and resilient commercial performance for second-half and full-year 2022

Solid business performance driving strong operating capital generation and attractive returns to shareholders

• Operating capital generation (OCG) increased to EUR 812 million from EUR 804 million in the second half of 2021 despite the sale of the Asset Management business (NN IP), reflecting a higher contribution from Netherlands Life and Insurance Europe; Full-year 2022 OCG up 8.0% to EUR 1,711 million
• NN Group Solvency II ratio of 197% versus 196% at 30 June 2022, reflecting strong OCG and asset and liability management transactions, partly offset by market impacts and deduction of the proposed 2022 final dividend
• Proposed 2022 final dividend of EUR 1.79 per ordinary share, bringing total 2022 dividend to EUR 2.79 per ordinary share, up 12% on 2021
• New share buyback programme for an amount of EUR 250 million
• Operating result of EUR 760 million versus EUR 917 million in the second half of 2021, largely due to the sale of NN IP; Full-year 2022 operating result of EUR 1,743 million compared with EUR 2,036 million in 2021
• Net result of EUR -444 million versus EUR 1,864 million in the second half of 2021, reflecting negative real estate revaluations and impairments on equity securities, while the comparative period included gains on the sale of public equities and government bonds as well as positive real estate revaluations; Full-year 2022 net result of EUR 1,562 million versus EUR 3,278 million in 2021

Resilient commercial performance

• Value of new business (VNB) of EUR 177 million versus EUR 186 million in the second half of 2021, mainly reflecting lower VNB at Insurance Europe as a result of the negative impact of discounting at higher interest rates; Full-year 2022 VNB up 0.7% to EUR 431 million
• Strong net inflows of EUR 2.0 billion in Defined Contribution pension business in 2022
• NN Bank and Woonnu originated EUR 8.7 billion of new mortgages in 2022, maintaining a stable market share

Strong focus on customers, employees and society

• 8 of our 11 Dutch and International businesses score on or above market average Net Promoter Score (NPS-r)
• Employee engagement increased to 7.9 from 7.7 in June 2022
• Percentage of women in senior positions increased to 40% from 39% in June 2022
• Total investments of around EUR 3 billion as part of target EUR 6 billion additional investments in climate solutions
• Climate Action Plan published, setting out a clear roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero
• 229,000 people reached via NN programmes to support their financial, physical and/or mental well-being

Statement of David Knibbe, CEO

‘Despite the challenging economic and geopolitical environment, we see good progress on the execution of our strategy, and we are pleased to report a resilient commercial performance for the second-half and full-year 2022.

With the full-year operating capital generation of more than EUR 1.7 billion, we have exceeded our 2023 target of EUR 1.5 billion. This result reflects the impact of higher interest rates and a strong business performance of Netherlands Life and Insurance Europe and was despite the sale of our asset management business NN IP. Our balance sheet remains strong, with a Solvency II ratio of 197% at year-end 2022, giving us ample financial flexibility and allowing us to continue to deliver solid capital returns to shareholders.

At Netherlands Life, we attracted net inflows in the Defined Contribution pension business of EUR 1.1 billion in the second half of the year. Netherlands Non-life reported a strong combined ratio of 95.4% reflecting improved D&A results partly offset by lower P&C results. And despite the slowing down of the Dutch housing market, NN Bank maintained its market share and originated in total EUR 3.8 billion of new mortgages during the second half of the year.

While we may see some short-term pressure on sales in Europe due higher prices and lower disposable incomes, we expect the structural demand for protection products to result in sales growth over time. In the second half of the year, the MetLife businesses that we acquired in Poland and Greece, delivered a positive contribution to the operating capital generation, sales, and value of new business of Insurance Europe.

We continue to focus on executing our strategy, which is centered around customer engagement, our talented people, and our contribution to society. We measure customer satisfaction based on Net Promoter Scores (NPS). Based on the latest scores, 8 of our 11 business units scored an at or above market average NPS. We have the strong ambition to further improve the customer experience we offer and enhance our scores. Within NN Life, the pension intermediary satisfaction increased from 7.6 in 2021 to 7.8 in 2022, ranking first in the Dutch market.

Especially in today’s competitive labour market, we are pleased with the high levels of engagement of our people, represented in an increased employee engagement score of 7.9. Our efforts in the area of reporting transparently on gender equality has again resulted in an inclusion in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index. In 2022, for the first time, the number of women in senior management positions has increased to 40%.

In December, we published our first Climate Action Plan, which sets out a clear roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero in our own operations by 2040, as well as in our investments and insurance underwriting by 2050. Together with other insurers, we launched a target setting protocol to set science-based targets to transition our underwriting portfolios to net-zero. We are pleased to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for the sixth year in a row.

In November 2022, we announced new strategic and financial targets for 2025, reaffirming our commitment to create long-term value for all our stakeholders. We aim to deliver EUR 1.8 billion of OCG by 2025 and a mid single-digit growth of OCG and free cash flow in the long term. We have announced today a proposed final dividend of EUR 1.79 per share, bringing the total dividend for 2022 to EUR 2.79 per share, an increase of 12% on 2021. In line with our capital return policy, we have also announced a new share buyback programme for an amount of EUR 250 million.’

(download the full Press Release)

Delivering on our strategic commitments

Our purpose statement reflects the kind of company we aspire to be: we help people care for what matters most to them. It’s our ambition is to be an industry leader, known for our customer engagement, talented people, and contribution to society. To realise our ambition, we identified five strategic commitments, with all parts of our business contributing.

Customers and distribution – Improving the experience of our customers and intermediaries across our markets

In November 2022, NN Bank became the online direct distributor of our Non-life products in the Netherlands. This proposition further strengthens the relationships of Nationale-Nederlanden with its customers, while also creating synergies through integrated marketing, customer service and IT-related activities.

NN Life Japan launched an Artificial Intelligence and Optical Character Recognition functionality to support its sales support system. This new functionality enables hardcopy documents, such as policy contracts and status reports, to be automatically read and converted into a digital format, enabling NN agents to centrally manage insurance policies of corporate customers and increase their efficiency.

Nationale-Nederlanden Poland launched a new digital platform for customers which provides an overview of their products, insurance coverages and investments. The platform enables them to manage their products themselves, supported by a clear layout and simple language.

In terms of customer satisfaction, 8 of our 11 combined International business units as well as our Dutch businesses scored above market average at the end of 2022. We are stepping up our efforts to effectively steer and steady our NPS-r scores towards achieving our 2025 target of International and Dutch business units scoring all above market average on NPS-r.

The focus of Nationale-Nederlanden on digitalisation and improvements in our services and communication towards intermediaries is reflected in increased intermediaries satisfaction scores in the Netherlands. Our Dutch Life business ranked first regarding intermediary satisfaction in the pension market, as evaluated by independent research. It also ranked first regarding intermediary satisfaction in the market of term life insurance. In addition, intermediary satisfaction of the Dutch Non-life business increased significantly and is above market average.

Products and services – Supporting customer needs for protection and health

In the second half of 2022, we continued our efforts to meet the increased demand for long-term health and protection products. For example, Nationale-Nederlanden Spain partnered with Sanitas, a private health insurance provider, and launched a new protection solution for people over 55 years old. The product offers health services such as physical and telephone consultation with specialists and preventative exams, and combines these services with accident protection covers as well as medical help at home.

In view of recent changes in the Belgian pension system for the self-employed, NN Life Belgium launched a new pension solution for the fourth pension pillar of savings without tax benefits. This product meets the pension needs of the self-employed with investment funds and additional coverages and compensates for them losing part of the benefits from the second pillar professional pension.  

In the Netherlands, we took further steps to improve the digital customer experience with an advanced chat platform. Customers that visit our Dutch websites (nn.nl and mijn.nn.nl) can get acquainted with ‘Sanne’, a digital assistant developed using Artificial Intelligence technology. It allows customers to ask questions on a 24/7 basis and download documents. In 2022, we helped more than 240,000 customers through the digital assistant, while we expect to further expand its use with new functionalities.

Our Netherlands Life business continued to roll out the Human Capital Planner platform, which enables advisors and employers to have fact-based conversations with employees about their pension plans. NN’s Zorggenoot service, which offers support in finding, arranging and financing informal care for elderly loved ones - a pressing issue for the 5 million informal caregivers in the Netherlands - is now offered as a complementary service via the Human Capital Planner.  

As part of our ambition to support the transition to a sustainable society, our Dutch Non-life business started a pilot with 65 recycling Dutch companies to investigate how this sector can be better insured, recognising their difficulties to take out insurance due to factors such as a high fire hazard risk or remote location. The pilot was successfully completed and certain recycling risks are now part of the regular underwriting mandate in our fire insurance product. In addition, we added extra coverage on our environmental hazard insurance for cleaning up damaged solar panel particles scattered by fire or storm and are currently investigating the opportunities to insure new technologies such as light electric vehicles, wooden housing and energy capture and storage systems.

People and organisation – New initiatives offering a diverse and inclusive workplace

We nurture a culture aimed at empowering our colleagues to be their best. We strengthened our efforts towards becoming a more diverse and inclusive (D&I) workplace. In the Netherlands, we launched the NN Cultural Diversity Network aimed at encouraging cultural diversity and diversity of thought. NN Hungary was awarded the Family Friendly workplace certificate, partially due to its inclusive parental leave policy. NN Turkey extended maternity leave to 24 weeks, from the legal requirement of 16 weeks, and paternity leave to 3 weeks from 1 week. NN Czech Republic signed the Czech Diversity and Inclusion charter. 

As part of our efforts to support a healthy work-life balance and flexible working conditions for our employees, NN Slovakia received an HR Inspiration award by the largest HR professional association in the country for introducing its four-day working scheme.

On the semi-annual survey carried out in the second half of 2022, NN colleagues’ engagement increased to 7.9 (from 7.7 in the first half of the year). The results show colleagues feel empowered to choose how they carry out their work, they feel connected to NN’s values and experience room for professional growth. Process efficiency continues to be an improvement area, and colleagues indicate to experience slow, but steady, improvement.

Financial strength – Maintaining a strong balance sheet

We aim to maintain a strong balance sheet and generate attractive financial returns for shareholders. Despite the ongoing turbulence in financial markets and uncertain macroeconomic environment, our operating capital generation was EUR 812 million in the second half of 2022 and increased by 8% to EUR 1.7 billion for the full year. Our Solvency II ratio at year-end 2022 was 197%, our cash capital position EUR 2.1 billion, and with a leverage ratio of 22.9%, we continue having ample financial flexibility.

In August 2022, NN Group raised EUR 500 million through the issuance of subordinated notes in what was the first issuance under NN Group’s Sustainability Bond Framework, which was established in February 2022 to finance green and social projects.

Society – Initiatives supporting the financial, physical and mental well-being of people in our communities

In December 2022, NN Group launched the NN Social Innovation Fund which, with an initial EUR 5 million investment, aimed at supporting early-stage social enterprises focused on increasing financial, physical and/or mental well-being.

BeFrank organised an awareness campaign encouraging young people to choose their investment risk though the company’s Profile Determiner – a tool that helps people determine what risk suits them. The campaign included direct mailings, a website and social media presence and reached more than 2,400 young people.

Nationale-Nederlanden Poland partnered with the Rak'n'Roll Foundation for a social campaign aimed at encouraging illness prevention. As part of this initiative, Nationale-Nederlanden Poland established a ‘Day for U’ for its employees, giving them an additional day off to undertake prevention exams. NN Romania partnered with the ‘Autism Voice’ NGO for the launch of the Autism Voice Institute, the first multifunctional therapy and research centre in Romania aimed at supporting autism patients.  

NN Group’s total contributions to its communities reached EUR 12.8 million in 2022, including more than 30,900 hours of volunteering, more than EUR 9.7 million in cash donations and supporting around 229,000 people.

For the fourth consecutive year, NN Group is top scorer of the Dutch Tax Transparency Benchmark published by the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO).

For the sixth consecutive year NN Group was included in Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI World) meaning that NN Group ranks amongst the top 10% of the insurance sector globally, with regard to its sustainability performance. Scores are given on economic & governance, environmental and social dimensions. Overall NN scored 80 (out of 100), compared to the average industry score of 33.

(download the full Press Release)

Press call

David Knibbe (CEO), Annemiek van Melick (CFO) and Bernhard Kaufmann (CRO) will host a press call to discuss the 2H22 results at 07:45 am CET on Thursday 16 February 2023. Journalists can join the press call. Passcode: you will receive an e-mail containing the dial-in number and a personal PIN code upon registration via this link.

Analyst and investor call

David Knibbe (CEO), Annemiek van Melick (CFO) and Bernhard Kaufmann (CRO) will host an analyst and investor conference call to discuss the 2H22 results at 10:00 am CET on Thursday 16 February 2023. Members of the investment community can follow the live audio webcast on NN Group - Investors (nn-group.com).

Analysts can participate in the Q&A by registering according to the following instructions:

• Register for the conference call online at link
• After registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing the dial-in number and personal PIN code
• Use these details to dial in to the conference call

Financial calendar          

• AGM: 2 June 2023
• Publication 1H23 results: 29 August 2023

Additional information on www.nn-group.com

• NN Group 2H22 Financial Supplement, NN Group 2H22 Analyst Presentation, NN Group Company Profile and NN Group ESG presentation
• Photos of NN Group executives, buildings and events are available in our Media library (nn-group.com)