Listen to this articleNN Group is a financial services company, active in 18 countries with a strong presence in a number of European countries and Japan. Below is our recent interview with Tjeerd Bosklopper, CEO Netherlands a.i. NN Group:
Q: Can you tell us something more about the company?
A: Our purpose is to help people secure their financial futures. Through our retirement services, and insurance, investments and banking products, we aim to create value for our customers and other stakeholders. NN Group includes Nationale-Nederlanden, NN, NN Investment Partners, ABN AMRO Insurance, Movir, AZL, BeFrank and OHRA. NN Group is listed on Euronext Amsterdam.
Q: You handled a presentation at the Invest Forum in Paris recently. What was it about?
A: “I talked about our transformation efforts, about how we are working on innovating the core of our business to create new business models that will help us build the company of tomorrow. New technologies are fundamentally changing the behaviours, needs and requirements of our customers. Also the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how we apply it in our businesses was discussed. AI and data analytics can improve our customer’s experiences and the compliance processes. It can increase the precision of risk assessment models and generally bring efficiency and effectiveness gains.
Transformation requires a two-speed organisation. On the one hand, we improve the core and the traditional business, and on the other hand, we experiment, innovate, explore new business models that will support the business of tomorrow. To innovate, we do both organic and inorganic innovation. Organically, our innovation efforts are run by our seven innovation labs, NN SparkLabs, that work on identifying and exploring growth opportunities. Inorganically, we have a team of people exploring the outside world and looking for cooperation with other corporates, startups, scale-ups, governments, knowledge institutes and even competitors.’’
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Q: Can you give us insights into your services?
A: “The core of our business model is to take on the risks that people cannot bear alone, providing protection for what matters most to them. Next to that, we provide new services that are very relevant for our customers and for instance promote a healthy lifestyle or empower a life with less worries. We provide products that contribute to the platform economy such as ebikes, car sharing and rewarding safe driving behaviors. Our subsidiary OHRA e.g. launched Clixx, an insurance for borrowed cars which can be taken out for just one day with a maximum of 30 days and NN initiated Bundelz, a prepaid car insurance with no fixed monthly charges, you only pay as you drive. By offering relevant products at the right moment, and seamlessly connecting data analytics across all distribution channels and sales points, we aim to further enhance distribution and customer relationships. We offer propositions that fit the needs of our times. NN Netherlands, for instance, offers a solution against hack attempts of SMEs, that consists of both extensive hack prevention advice and cyber insurance.”
Q: How do you stand out from your competition and what are your plans and goals for the future?
A: Compared to our industry, we have a strong brand, a unique talent base, a large customer base, a strong distribution power, financial flexibility and strong presence in Europe. By being more digital, personal and relevant we can have an edge to win going forward. With regards to new tech entrants; first of all we can be partners both in technology and in platform participation. Secondly, the insurance industry is a very regulated industry in Europe where a deep understanding of markets, regulations and culture is needed in order to succeed. Tech companies could face more regulation and restrictions in the use of data and the power they have. Lastly, we can compete on a different social relevancy than what they offer to customers.”
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