Swiss insurance company Helvetia increased the first-half profit by about 10 percent, not least thanks to investments into new sales channels.
Helvetia, a Swiss insurer based in St. Gallen, had a first-half profit of 224 million Swiss francs ($230 million), up from 210 million francs a year ago, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The main drivers of growth were the non-life and reinsurance businesses as well as its European branches, Helvetia said. Total sales increased 5.4 percent to 5.83 billion francs, with growth in local currencies amounting to 2.9 percent.
Future Sources of Growth
The company aims to boost its business to 10 billion francs, according to the strategy 20.20. To achieve the level of growth necessary to reach the goals, Helvetia is tapping into new sources of revenue and investing in new technology it hopes will generate more business.
One example for how the company hopes that technology will assist in helping its business are chatbots. Helvetia currently is evaluating a pilot for victims of bicycle theft. Clients of the company can report a theft via Facebook Messenger and receive a compensation within only 90 seconds.
Based on the strong public acceptance of the bot, Helvetia has decided to launch it on a permanent basis, the company said.
