Robert Otto (Achmea): 'I want to accelerate the growth of our international activities'

Otto joined the board of directors in 2015 and is therefore celebrating his tenth anniversary this year. He is far from tired of his position and has set an important goal for himself: he wants the income from foreign non-life insurance to exceed the non-life turnover in the Dutch market in the long term. ‘It will take some time, but we are on track’, he states at an opportune moment, as, on the day of this interview, Achmea announces that the company will in 2025 start selling online car insurance in Spain and Romania. To provide a broader base and spread the risk, Achmea wants to strengthen its position with further international growth. To absorb, for example, the consequences of climate change.
Otto speaks openly and easily. Every now and then he pauses to consider his answer or find a good example of a clever innovation. ‘We not only export digital solutions but also reap the benefits of innovations from across the border,’ he says to Annemein Kolk, who has been a member of the board of directors of consultancy firm Boer & Croon as COO since 2024. Kolk has over 26 years of experience in the financial sector. In addition, she is responsible for executive interim management services as a partner at Boer & Croon.

You have been on the board of directors of Achmea for ten years. Do you still find it interesting enough after so many years?
‘We operate in a market that is constantly changing – developments are happening very quickly, especially internationally. That makes my work challenging. I get a lot of energy from working with international teams. It enriches my perspective and keeps me sharp. In addition, I try to continue to learn from customer contact, which I have always enjoyed. It is a continuous source of inspiration to me. Both nationally and internationally. And lastly, I always had different areas of focus on the board. With the arrival of new colleagues, I have changed portfolios three times in these ten years.’

What is the effect of the geopolitical unrest on Achmea?
‘We have a large investment portfolio, and geopolitical uncertainty has an impact on financial markets. So geopolitical developments certainly have an impact on our portfolio. In the past year, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East had a limited impact on financial markets, but escalation of these events does pose a potential risk.’

What impact does climate change have on insurers?
‘What is happening in the insurance world worldwide is that the so-called insurance gap – the difference between what can be insured and what is insured – is increasing. That is worrying and is already leading to distressing situations. Take the forest fires in Los Angeles in America. Many of the houses that went up in smoke appear not to have been insured.
In addition, we are seeing the problem of uninsurability increasing. Think, for example, of flood-prone areas such as Florida where insurers are withdrawing due to increasing risks. The same is happening in Australia, where insurers are reconsidering their services in risky areas.’

Achmea operates in Australia too. How is Achmea responding to these increasing climate risks?
‘Our presence in Australia stems from the collaboration with Rabobank, which has been operating there for some time, particularly in the agricultural sector. We are a broad agricultural insurer in Australia, just as we are in the Netherlands. In addition to, for example, agricultural buildings, equipment and continuity, we also insure greenhouses there. We have, as it were, exported this expertise which we built up in the Netherlands. We are now active in ten countries, including Australia and Canada. We do this for a reason – the increasingly extreme weather conditions increase the risk of damage to greenhouses. We can handle such calamities more effectively by spreading risks. At the same time, we invest significantly in prevention. We have extensive knowledge about how to prevent damage. In areas that are sensitive to hail, we replace glass with a stronger type of glass. We are continuously testing various innovations in the field of prevention, such as using drones to monitor glass quality in greenhouses.’

Achmea is strongly committed to international growth. What is the strategy behind this?
‘Achmea is the largest non-life and health insurer in the Netherlands, but this is a relatively small market. It is therefore interesting from a growth perspective but also from a risk diversification perspective to build up and expand positions in other markets. We are leading the way in the field of digitalisation when compared to other countries, and we see opportunities there. We are capitalising on this mainly through our InShared platform. With this brand, the services are provided completely digitally. We started on the German market in 2021, with InShared.de. This was done lean and mean. The organization is managed largely from the Netherlands. We initially enter a market with car insurance. Fact is, after all, that people take out a new car insurance policy more often than a home insurance policy. At a later stage, we can add other insurance products.’

Which countries do you find interesting? How is that choice made?
‘Two factors are important: how do consumers in a particular country respond to our digital services and are there already well-developed digital concepts in that market? We are most interested in markets where we can make a difference with our digital proposition. Before we enter, we test our product with a select group of local residents. If this proves to be successful, we decide whether to scale up. For example, we are now starting in Spain with InShared. In Greece, where we are already the largest non-life insurer through our subsidiary Interamerican, we sell online insurance under the name Anytime. Based on this Greek success, we are now also expanding to Romania.’

Do you sometimes get it wrong?
‘Of course, there are always learning moments. At the beginning of this year, we stopped an experiment with a different model which included offering our platform as a SaaS solution, in Canada. We learned that our strength lies in rolling out our own model with direct customer service.’

How is Achmea rolling out its digital insurance concept in Europe?
‘We start from scratch in a new country. It is actually much like a start-up: you have to do many things well at the same time. We continue to develop based on proven success. We focus primarily on Europe, especially because Europe is increasingly becoming one market. Outside Europe, we will remain active only in Turkey, Australia and Canada with the international insurance company Hagelunie for the time being, because we already have a strong position there. The great advantage about operating within Europe is that we do not need a separate permit per country. With our Dutch permit and the associated oversight, we can be active throughout Europe. We gain significant trust thanks to our Dutch base and the way in which oversight is implemented in our country.’

To what extent do European countries differ from each other in the field of insurance? How does Achmea tackle this in its implementation?
‘The trick is to do as much as possible in the same way. That benefits efficiency and costs. But naturally, there are differences. For example, the liability rules for car insurance can differ per country. In addition, each country has specific technical requirements for integrating our platform with national databases and local systems. In Germany we had to link 80 different systems to our platform to gain access to vehicle data. Finally, insurance policies are sometimes fundamentally different. In the Netherlands the car itself is insured – the license plate remains with the vehicle, regardless of the owner. This is not the case in Germany. There, the driver is insured. As a result, a vehicle needs a new license plate and new insurance when transferred from one owner to another. All this requires a country-specific design of the products.’

Are there countries where you do not get involved?
‘Not all countries are equally suitable. The United Kingdom, for example, is less opportune. First of all because the country is not part of the EU. In addition, its market is saturated with providers offering similar concepts. It is then difficult to distinguish yourself as a newcomer.’

How big is the European insurance market, and what position does Achmea occupy?
‘In Europe, there are around 7,000 parties active in the non-life insurance market, ranging from very small to very large. We are in the top 15 of largest providers. With health insurance included, we are even in the top 5.’

Following on the expected consolidation in the banking sector, do you expect a wave of consolidation to also take place in the insurance landscape?
‘The timing is difficult to predict, but it is certain that this will also happen in the insurance sector. It will become more difficult for smaller and medium-sized parties to raise investments in digitalisation, cybersecurity and compliance. National markets have already been largely consolidated. International mergers are the next step. I see this happening, especially in the non-life market. This market offers more opportunities for international synergies. It is simply easier to organise non-life insurance on a larger scale and across national borders. This is in contrast to, for example, health insurance, where national systems form a more significant barrier.’

Are there already signs of a possible consolidation?
‘The largest insurers will play this game. They are already actively engaged in acquisitions and mergers. However, Achmea has a strong position, and we are qualified to remain independent and successful in this changing European playing field. We are looking at targeted acquisitions, but our approach differs from that of some other players. As a cooperative company, we only invest what we earn ourselves. We do not have any capital from the stock exchange, so you should not expect billion-dollar acquisitions from us. Our focus is primarily on autonomous growth – entering new markets ourselves – but we do have a clear M&A agenda. Targeted acquisitions are an important part of our strategy to strengthen our position.’

Can you give an example?
‘In Slovakia, we did three acquisitions in recent years. This has strengthened our position. Another example is Greece, where we recently acquired a large service provider. That is an interesting market because we are active there not only as an insurer, but also as a healthcare provider with our own clinics. We also manage damage repair companies and towing services, which means we can serve the entire chain. This acquisition means we are now the absolute market leader in the field of towing services and road assistance in Greece.’

Are there any foreign innovations that can be applied in the Netherlands?
‘Certainly. We regularly gain valuable insights or come across smart innovative tools in other markets. For example, our Slovakian subsidiary Union has developed an app that monitors heart failure. The app measures certain indicators via your phone and immediately alerts medical care providers if necessary. We want to introduce this app in the Netherlands. It is a solution that helps to relieve the pressure on the healthcare system. What is also interesting: in Slovakia we make podcasts in which medical specialists talk about optimising your health. These podcasts are enormously popular, hundreds of thousands of people listen to them.’

How big is the share of foreign activities within Achmea? What ambitions do you still have?
‘Achmea’s international income is growing every year. In 2023, turnover from international activities amounted to around €1.8 billion, which was 23 percent more than the previous year. That share is substantial. Total non-life turnover, excluding income from health insurance, is around five billion euros, of which one billion is international. My ambition is that the international activities will grow faster than the Dutch activities in the coming years.’

This interview was published in Management Scope 03 2025.