In brief

It is our pleasure to present you with this Annual Report for 2023 in which we look back on the events and milestones of the previous year. It was a year in which DELA showed considerable resilience and determination to stay on our chosen path as an organisation. We are making excellent progress in realising our goal of strengthening solidarity in society by 2030.

We are also proud of the growth achieved in 2023. The insurance portfolio increased by over 50,000 policyholders, bringing our total to more than 5.5 million policyholders.

To further reinforce our growth ambitions in 2023, we started a programme called ‘controlled business’. This supports the quality of our service provision, risk management and reputation. The programme is based on acting with integrity and preserving high standards, supported by a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. Controlled business ultimately rests on the actions of our employees.

We also closely monitor our sustainability. Major aspects include the electrification of funeral furnaces and transport, working towards energy-neutral buildings, placing solar panels and purchasing green energy. We constantly assess our business activities to ensure our growth is in harmony with the social impact we hope to realise. 

A number of new initiatives were started in 2023 to make our organisation even more resilient. Where possible we will increase the transparency and efficiency of our products and services to provide customers with a uniform experience. Dedicated teams were set up in the Netherlands to ensure us an even better understanding of the needs and wishes of members. We are also studying which questions related to passing on and remembrance are most common among policyholders. We see it as important to continuously empathise with the expectations that policyholders have of our daily activities.We are pleased that the general meeting agreed this year to an adjustment of the premium measure to ensure we are less vulnerable to negative interest rates. This makes a positive contribution to DELA remaining a financially healthy cooperative for members in the future.

Digitisation helps keep us on course as well as adding to the overall customer experience. A multi-year digital transition project in the Netherlands is streamlining our insurance systems and processes, for instance. In Belgium we continued to develop the digital communication with our distribution partners to better serve customers. In Germany we use the online services of renowned business partners to communicate with customers and provide them with an optimal service.

Despite the turbulent financial markets – mainly caused by geopolitical unrest – our investment portfolio had a healthy return of 4.6 percent in 2023. At the same time, we managed to control costs. This benefits the premium for our funeral insurance, which is inflation-proof.

We also limit the premium increase via our profit share scheme. In 2023 we were able to grant members and policyholders a record profit share of over €249 million, and on 1 January 2024 we determined a premium increase of 7.57 percent for the DELA Uitvaartplan in the Netherlands. Without profit sharing, the premium increase would have been 12.18 percent. The eventual net result was negative due to the high profit share.

We continue to work hard every day to provide high-quality services. This has resulted in a stable customer satisfaction at the group level. Belgian customers are increasingly satisfied. In Germany we also saw a rise in customer satisfaction levels. We support German brokers by proactively organising webinars and providing them with accurate product information.

DELA believes it is important to have a robust and sound reputation so our activities are partly aimed at maintaining and strengthening this. We saw a slight improvement in our reputation compared to the previous year.

Our commitment is also recognised externally and has won us awards. In Belgium we received two DECAVI awards this year, as best funeral insurance and for our social efforts. In addition to supporting members, policyholders, bereaved and guests, we also continue to invest in our own employees. In the Netherlands and Belgium, Effectory again named us as a World-class Workplace. We are proud to say that in the Netherlands we even came in first in the category for companies with over 1,000 employees. 

In the past year, it was announced that CEO and chairman of the Executive Board of DELA Group Edzo Doeve was retiring. Sandra Schellekens took over his position on 27 January 2024. Edzo’s dedication and leadership helped shape the course of DELA for 20 years and we cannot thank him enough for his tireless efforts.

The knowledge, experience and energy of our employees makes us confident that we can lead our organisation to new successes. While resilience and determination will continue to be crucial to make progress, we are ready to explore new paths with our customers.