UNIQA 3.0 – Growing Impact:
Ahead of Plan

It was only at the end of 2024 that we presented our new Group strategy for 2025–2028 known as “UNIQA 3.0 – Growing Impact”. Implementation of this has been so successful since then that we were even able to announce an upgrade for some of the targets set at a capital market update in London in November 2025. The key elements in this strategy of profitable growth, further efficiency improvements and the expansion of our strong market position in Austria and CEE remain unchanged. The overriding goal is to position UNIQA as a diversified and attractive dividend share with sustainable premium, earnings and distribution growth.

With “UNIQA 3.0 – Growing Impact”, we are continuing a successful course that has already led to significant customer and premium growth as well as increased profitability in the insurance business in previous years. The fact that it has now been possible to upgrade most of the growth and profitability targets after less than a year is due to consistent implementation of the strategy and overachievement of some important objectives. This will add even more momentum to the already successful efforts to implement the strategy.

Even more ambitious objectives

Our objectives for the future are therefore even more ambitious: the annual growth target for premium volume by 2028 has been raised from an average of 5 per cent to 6 per cent, and we are also now aiming for annual growth of more than 7 per cent in earnings per share (EPS) thanks to consistent cost management (previously: 6 per cent). We also want to see significant improvements in our earning power: the plan is for the combined ratio (net) to be permanently reduced to below 93 per cent (previously: 94 per cent), and we have raised the target value for return on equity (ROE) from 12 per cent to over 13 per cent. Our target for the administrative cost ratio remains unchanged and we want to continue to reduce this to below 15 per cent.

While international business in the CEE region is expected to continue to grow by around 8 per cent annually, we have increased our target for premium growth in Austria from around 3 per cent per year to 4 per cent, thereby aiming to grow faster than GDP in the respective markets.

Unchanged are our objectives for strong capitalisation, which is aimed at underpinning our growth strategy, and for our progressive dividend strategy, through which we aim to share our success with our shareholders: The solvency ratio, which was a solid 275 per cent at the end of 2025, should be at least between 180 and 230 per cent in future. This will give us sufficient room for organic growth and potential acquisitions. Our dividends are also expected to grow steadily in line with the targeted earnings performance. The basis for this is a distribution ratio of 50–60 per cent of profits.

Most objectives for 2025 exceeded

As already stated, the background to these upgrades is the extremely successful implementation of the new strategy in the past year. We were already well on the way to exceeding the 2025 targets after just three quarters. This was due to faster implementation of existing initiatives, continued cost discipline despite accelerated growth and the virtual absence of natural disasters. In addition, Austria saw stronger growth in health insurance and a further increase in profitability in property and casualty insurance. At the international level, successful continuation of the general growth course and sustained high profitability in the property and casualty insurance business had a positive effect.

Looking at 2025 as a whole, premium growth for the entire UNIQA Group of 8 per cent clearly exceeded the target value of 5 per cent. Premiums increased by 10 per cent in CEE, while in Austria they were 5 per cent above the previous year’s figure.

We also made faster progress in further increasing our earning power in 2025 than envisaged: at 15.3 per cent, the administrative cost ratio was already only marginally above the target of 15 per cent after just one year, while the combined ratio (net) was already below the objective of 94 per cent at 91.7 per cent. In line with this, the ROE also noticeably exceeded the target value of 12 per cent at 14.3 per cent.

Our journey towards becoming the best service provider and the best employer in the industry has been similar. We are aiming for a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars in both areas. In terms of customer satisfaction, we have already achieved this objective with 4.6 stars and are now working consistently to maintain the high standard we have achieved over the long term. In terms of employee satisfaction – measured using the Employee Experience Index and the Engagement Index – we are currently at 4.1 stars in each case and have therefore also made welcome progress.

Strong starting position in Austria and CEE

Our objectives may seem ambitious – and even more ambitious after the upgrade – but they are realistic given our strong market position and the measures already implemented in previous years. The progress made in 2025 alone is impressive proof of this.

With over 18 million customers and almost 15,000 employees in 14 countries, UNIQA is now one of the leading insurance groups in Austria and CEE. A very high level of brand awareness makes us the second-largest insurer in Austria and one of the top five insurers in many CEE countries. Our positioning is particularly strong in the healthcare business, where UNIQA is the clear market leader in Austria.

Continuation of a successful path

UNIQA owes this strong position to a consistent long-term focus on growth and profitability, which the company has been working on resolutely since 2011. In addition to expanding the customer base and strengthening the balance sheet structure, the focus here has been on expanding and consolidating the country portfolio – particularly through the integration of the former AXA companies in Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, the withdrawal from Russia and the sale of the companies in Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo – as well as consistent digitalisation. We also managed to improve both our current business and our capital base alongside these efforts. The number of customers has more than doubled since 2011 from 7.5 million, and the premium volume rose from €5.3 billion in 2011 to €8.4 billion most recently. The solvency ratio increased to a remarkable 275 per cent in the last decade.

Profitable growth and operational transformation

UNIQA now intends to continue along this path and even accelerate the process. The overriding objectives are economic success and positioning ourselves as the best service provider and best employer in the industry.

Our goals by 2028

Challenging environment

The “UNIQA 3.0 – Growing Impact” strategic programme means that we are responding in a structured manner to the diverse challenges facing our industry, as well as society and the economy as a whole. In addition to diverging rates of economic growth, which we aim to exceed with our premium growth both in Austria and in CEE, we also face a volatile macroeconomic environment with uncertainty regarding inflation and interest rate developments, as well as a rise in the number of claims due to natural disasters. We are countering this with active financial and risk management to absorb the impact of interest rate trends, inflation and natural disasters on our business as far as possible.

However, climate change and the increased ESG requirements also require new answers in our product and investment policy. This is compounded by an ageing society and a healthcare system that is frequently stretched to the limit. As an insurance company, we can offer a wide range of products and services that play a part in solving social problems and at the same time expand our business radius.

Digitalisation as a driver for growth

Systematic digitalisation provides important leverage for achieving our goals, which is why we have been investing heavily in our IT systems and digital processes for years. We want to reduce our administrative costs significantly on this basis while also improving our customer service. For instance, UNIQA already processes around 90 per cent of claims in the health insurance business digitally – that’s double the figure for 2020. We are also increasingly focusing on digital channels in sales, without neglecting the important agency business in the process.

Expansion of the healthcare business

One particular focus is on further expansion of the profitable healthcare business. UNIQA wants to operate here both as an insurer and increasingly as a healthcare provider. We already offer various innovative healthcare services through our subsidiary Mavie – from telemedicine to health centres and private clinics through to preventive services (see UNIQA’s “health ecosystem”).

The healthcare market presents significant opportunities: in our home market of Austria alone, where we are the number one health insurer, there is annual market potential of over €11 billion in the private healthcare sector. The premium volume in the healthcare business is expected to grow by around 7 per cent per year by 2028.

Higher income from life insurance

In life insurance, we are working not only to compensate for but also to surpass the expiring business, which is the reason why we are aiming for an increase in premiums across the entire Group. While the international segment is expected to achieve average growth rates of 8 per cent per annum, the life insurance business in Austria will continue to decline slightly. One important driver for the planned growth in CEE is the ageing population, which is leading to rising demand for pension and life insurance products. The profitable protection business in CEE is also expected to make an important contribution. The completion of our IT transformation initiative will likewise contribute to this. Looking at life and health insurance combined, we are aiming for a sustainability ratio of more than 90 per cent.

Increased efficiency in Austria, accelerated growth in CEE

From a regional perspective, our focus in Austria as traditionally the domestic market of the UNIQA Group is on increasing profitability, with improvements in pricing as well as an increased focus on SMEs and a reduction in the loss ratio through strategic claims management contributing to this. Supported by a growing exclusive sales network, we are number one in most federal provinces and, on this basis, are now aiming for premium growth of 4 per cent per year. This growth will be driven primarily by property and casualty insurance and health insurance. It will be accompanied by the aforementioned IT transformation and digitalisation, which is expected to reduce the administrative cost ratio to 13 per cent by 2028.

We are aiming for rising earnings contributions and dividends in our international business, where we are able to build on a well-diversified product and country portfolio. Our starting point is very good with top five positions in many of our CEE markets and the growth differential to Western Europe, coupled with insurance density that is still low. We plan to increase our premium volume in this region by 8 per cent annually – and thereby above market levels – supported by a strong customer base, while also increasing our profitability through portfolio optimisation and operational improvements. At the same time, the administrative cost ratio is set to decrease to 14 per cent by 2028 thanks to digitalisation and economies of scale.

Sustainability as an integral component

We have also set ourselves ambitious targets when it comes to sustainability. The Group aims to become climate-neutral in Austria by 2040 and then across the entire Group by 2050. The plan is for coal, oil and gas businesses to be completely eliminated from the investment and insurance portfolio by 2030/2035. The fact that sustainability is not just lip service for us, but is consistently implemented in all business lines, is also reflected in the ESG ratings, where UNIQA is well above the industry average. (More information on the topic of ESG can be found in the Consolidated Non-Financial Report).