Protector Forsikring investor relations material

The low-cost alternative

Protector Forsikring is a young and fast-growing niche insurance provider. They focus on property and casualty insurance for large and medium-sized businesses in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and the U.K. Since their establishment in 2004, their core business has been to have the lowest possible cost ratio. The low prices allow them to sell insurance at more attractive prices than competitors. 

The idea of Protector emerged from seeing big insurance players being fat and lazy, and sprawling in many segments. The company has grown fast and profitably since its inception in 2004. They entered the Swedish market in 2011 and the Danish one year after. And in 2016, they entered Finland and the UK. Protector sees most of its future growth coming from markets outside of Norway. Some of Protector’s competitors include Gjensidige, Sampo, and Tryg.

Weathering headwinds

The last few years have been a bumpy ride. The Norwegian insurer has faced several challenges, like increasing price pressure, poor underwriting discipline in Norway and Denmark, higher-than-expected claims inflation in the motor segment, and two edge cases on the risk side. However, Protector has weathered these headwinds by raising prices, adopting a better underwriting discipline, and focusing more on cost management and capital allocation, which has really turned the company around. 

The company is considered the leading insurance advisor within municipal insurance and insures over 600 municipalities and counties in the Scandinavian market. The customer base consists of, among others, the leading actor in the Nordics within parcel- and logistics services and numerous healthcare providers.

In-house IT systems

Since its inception, Protector has built all its IT systems in-house, contributing to them being a low-cost operator today - with a cost ratio of 1 percent, compared to the industry average of 3.2 percent.

Roughly 15 percent of the AUM consists of equity investments - currently around 20 businesses. The equity portfolio has historically returned over 19 percent per annum.