OREANDA-NEWS. On 4 March 2015 Helvetia announced the sale of the travel insurance portfolio of L’Européenne (Compagnie Européenne d'Assurances des Marchandises et Bagages S.A, Brussels) in Belgium to Mapfre Asistencia, a company of the Spanish Mapfre insurance group. Following the approval of the regulatory authorities, the portfolio transaction has now been completed. In the process 15 employees have transferred to Mapfre.

L’Européenne belonged to the Nationale Suisse Group, which became part of the Helvetia Group in 2014. With premiums of EUR 25 million, the L’Européenne travel insurance portfolio generated about 30 percent of the premium volume of Nationale Suisse in Belgium.

As previously announced, Helvetia is withdrawing from the Belgian direct insurance market with the exception of art risks, which in future will be underwritten via its Liechtenstein-based subsidiary.

About the Helvetia Group

Over the past 150 years, the Helvetia Group has developed out of various Swiss and foreign insurance companies into a successful insurance group with a presence throughout Europe. Helvetia now has operations in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, France and Liechtenstein. It also conducts some of its investment and financing operations via subsidiary and fund companies in Luxembourg and Jersey. The former Nationale Suisse became part of Helvetia Group in October 2014, and its business activities are being continued by Helvetia Group as of 1 May 2015. The Group’s head office is located in the Swiss town of St. Gallen. Helvetia offers life policies, insurance against loss and reinsurance. With around 7,000 employees, it provides services for more than 4.7 million customers. In the 2014 financial year, Helvetia generated underlying earnings of CHF 421.7million on a business volume of CHF 7.76 billion. The registered shares of Helvetia Holding are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the code HELN.