theceomagazine.com | 91I
n 1863, Queen Victoria ruled the world’s most
powerful empire, Abraham Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation and workers were a few
years into constructing the Suez Canal. That same
year, Swiss insurer Baloise Group began operations,
initially offering protection from fire to residents
of Basel. While the company’s origins lie in an era that is
unrecognisable to us today, Baloise has continued to evolve
as an agile, modern provider of insurance products.
In fact, under the guidance of Group CEO Gert De
Winter and CFO Carsten Stolz, the company’s trailblazing
approach has seen it honoured with the Swiss insurance
industry’s innovation award. Gert explains the accolade was
not for a single product or initiative, but in recognition of
its ongoing commitment to finding new ways to produce
tailored and intuitive insurance products.
“Over the past two years, we have screened more
than 1,000 start-ups and we are intensively collaborating
or developing proof of concept with dozens of them. If
you look at the list of initiatives we have been launching,
it is really impressive. We are running at full speed now.”
Carsten says the company has moved from a phase
built around operational excellence to its current focus
on extending its product range and embracing new modes
of interacting with its customers. “Innovation, growth and
change in the digital age have become the cornerstones
of our strategic development,” he says. “At the same time, »theceomagazine.com | 91Interview | INNOVATE