Capitalisation and profit distribution

Capital and risk
TrygVesta relies on its capital base and financial strength to assume risks from the customers and for the customers to be confident that TrygVesta is able to meet its obligations if and when they report a claim. The aim is for the capital base to match the Group’s risk profile and support natural growth. Basically, TrygVesta’s capital base is the result of risk assessments and risk management. This basic view thus also determines the dividend policy.

Capital requirement
TrygVesta wants the risk and capitalisation to be assessed externally on a regular basis, and therefore TrygVesta has rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s perform annual interactive credit assessments.

This is consistent with TrygVesta’s ambitions and provides a good balance with high creditworthiness and powerful financial strength while at the same time avoiding tying up more capital than can be justified by commercial reasons. In practice, an A level rating corresponds to capital of around 52%-56% of premiums, and the agencies seek to calibrate the rating so that companies at this level have adequate capital on a one-year horizon with 99.5% certainty. Our internal risk and capital requirement assessments are based on the balance sheet model (ALM), which uses stochastic simulation to calculate the necessary capital taking into consideration the actual insurance portfolio mix and profitability, the actual provisioning profile and the composition of provisions, the existing reinsurance protection and the chosen investment profile. Within this framework, it is also possible to quantify the geographic diversification effect and the effect of the investment policy under which interest rate risk on the bond portfolio matches the corresponding interest rate risk on the discounted provisions, thereby ensuring that TrygVesta’s net interest rate risk is negligible for practical purposes (see the section on Risk management). TrygVesta calculates its Individual Solvency Need on this basis in accordance with the rules effected for Danish insurance companies at 1 July 2007. Under these rules, insurance companies and their supervisory boards are required to regularly identify, quantify and control all forms of risk, and to calculate and report the necessary capital on a quarterly basis. TrygVesta calculates the necessary capital corresponding to a 99.5% security level on a one-year horizon, equal to the security level required under Solvency II in the future. As the wish is to continue to maintain a rating of A-, TrygVesta has made a simplified model based on the Standard & Poor’s capital model, which is used to determine the capital target and thus dividends. The model is described in more details at
www.trygvesta.com, and is updated on a quarterly basis.

In future, the capital requirement will have to be calculated under the EU Solvency II rules, which are expected to be implemented from 2012. See the section on Solvency II implementation in the section The Nordic insurance industry for a more detailed description. The latest version of the Solvency II draft standard model was tested in QIS4 (quantitative studies that measure the impact of the new Solvency rules) in the first half of 2008.

Dividend policy
Dividend is determined on the basis of the Group’s profit distribution policy.

• TrygVesta distributes 50% of the profit for the year as ordinary cash dividends.
• Any excess capital after distribution of ordinary dividends and taking into consideration the capital, strategy and growth, will be returned to shareholders in the form of a share buy back programme. 
• The dividend policy reflects our long-term earnings and cash flow potential, while maintaining and appropriate level of capitalisation.

TrygVesta intends to pursue a risk-based transparent policy for capital management, and thus also for dividend distribution. At 31 December, a capital requirement is determined based on the simplified Standard & Poor’s model corresponding to the level of an A-rating plus a buffer of 5%. Any capital in excess thereof will be distributed as dividend. Dividend is determined once a year while profit is generated on an ongoing basis, and this means that the buffer will grow over the year in excess of the 5% originally determined. Buffer growth in 2007 and 2008 was 21.5% and 16.5%, respectively.

Dividend for the 2008 financial year and share buy back
Profit after tax amounted to DKK 846m in 2008. Pursuant to our profit distribution policy, this entails a cash distribution of dividends totalling DKK 423m or DKK 6.50 per share. TrygVesta’s risk instructions provide for an equity proportion of up to 8.0%. The equity proportion at 31 December 2008 was 3.4%. The present capital base permits the increased equity risk within the limits of the risk instructions. However, as a consequence of the financial crisis and the difficulties involved in procuring additional subordinate capital in the financial markets, we have decided not to buy back treasury shares in respect of 2009 in order to safeguard TrygVesta’s resources.

Capital structure
TrygVesta’s equity amounted to DKK 8,244m at 31 December 2008, and the capital base was DKK 3,926m calculated in accordance with legislative requirements. The actual capital as calculated in the Standard & Poor’s capital model (TAC) was DKK 8,952m at 31 December 2008. The major differences in the calculation of actual capital are the treatment of subordinate loan capital which is included in the capital base at DKK 685m and in TAC at DKK 1,102m, as well as the recognition of the discounting effect on provisions. The latter reduced the capital base by DKK 721m at 31 December 2008.

In 2005, TrygVesta raised subordinate loan capital in the form of a 20-year bond loan in the amount of EUR 150m, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The loan, which carries a coupon of 4.5%, is included in the capital base at DKK 685m and in TAC at DKK 1,102m. Subordinate loan capital accounted for 12% of the capital calculated according to Standard & Poor’s capital model for credit purposes in 2008, with the present limit being 25%.

Credit facility
In 2005, TrygVesta raised a five-year revolving credit facility of DKK 2,000m subscribed with eight Danish and international banks. At 31 December 2008, DKK 599m had been utilised under the facility. Interest rate expenses on loan capital totalled DKK 100m for 2008. The total debt ratio was 18.0 at 31 December 2008.

Financial flexibility
As a result of the decision not to implement share buy backs on the basis of our 2008 performance, the buffer relative to an A-level rating in the simplified Standard & Poor’s model increases to 16%, 11% or some DKK 850m more than the 5% buffer target.

TrygVesta’s capital contingency plan describes measures that can be applied in the short term to improve the Group’s solvency, if required. The plan includes restructuring of assets from equities to bonds and the buying of proportional reinsurance. These measures together would substitute for around DKK 1,000m capital. The capital base could also be increased by the raising of additional subordinate loan capital of around DKK 1,100m in relation to the Standard & Poor’s capital model.