Creating Profit Through Alliances - business models for collaboration E-book | Page 34

REAAL / De Goudse
The collaboration of the two insurance companies
REAAL and De Goudse started in 2006, and it offers a
good example of how an alliance like this requires a
lot of attention at the operational level to be
successful. Though profitable, the alliance has a lot
more potential which the alliance managers on both
sides are striving to realise.
De Goudse is an independent insurer with a history
dating back to 1924, when Geert Bouwmeester
founded the company. Today, his descendants still
own almost all shares in De Goudse. The total annual
turnover is about € 720 million and it employs around
900 people. The company is focusing increasingly on
small and midsized enterprises, without losing its
strong position in the market of private insurances.
De Goudse holds a particularly prominent position in
property, income and life insurance. As a familyowned company, De Goudse can afford to pursue a
long-term, aiming for long-lasting relationships with
its clients and intermediaries.
REAAL has a long history as well, starting with the
merger of two insurance companies that were active
from the start of the 20th century. The REAAL group
was formed together with three banks, and has
continued to grow through the merger with the SNS
group and the acquisition of five smaller insurance
companies. This makes REAAL one of the largest
insurers in the Netherlands today. REAAL typically
pursues a low cost/operational excellence strategy.
Frank Rensen, commercial manager at REAAL for the
small and midsized market, and Rene de Peuter,
alliance manager for De Goudse do the day-to-day
management of the alliance. They have been putting
a lot of effort into the alliance since 2008. Rene: "For
De Goudse this is primarily a distribution agreement
to strengthen our position in the market and to
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ensure that we have enough economies of scale to
be competitive." Frank: "For REAAL, combining our
portfolio with De Goudse was a good way of cutting
costs, while retaining part of the upward potential of
our occupational disability portfolio."
The reason for starting the collaboration was a
change in Dutch law regarding occupational disability
insurances in 2007. A large part of the risk of paying
wages during the first two years of illness was
transferred from collective funds to the employer. The
employers had the option of insuring themselves for
these costs. The risk for the period after two years is
partly covered by collective funds, and employees
can insure themselves against loss of income for the
remaining part.
De Goudse is active in both types of insurance, and
for them it is an important product. REAAL was active
in the employee insurances sector only because they
had taken over the portfolio of a small insurer. There
was little knowledge about the product within REAAL,
but they did feel that this type of insurance should be
part of their portfolio. This made the option attractive
to partner with another insurer. In the Netherlands
there were only five companies with a large enough
occupational disability portfolio. De Goudse was the
only one that was independent, as the others were
brands of larger competitors.
Since the board members from both companies
regularly met at business events and social occasions,
it was easy for REAAL to establish contact. There was
certainly a match at a personal level, and both sides
were willing to let the other gain as well. It only took
a short time to draft an agreement and to set up an
alliance that propelled the combination into the top10 of collective occupational disability insurances in
the Netherlands.