The Annual General Meeting voted in favour of all proposals by the Board of Directors. The shareholders approved the Company’s 2021 annual report and separate and consolidated annual financial statements, and formally approved the actions of the members of the Board of Directors and management team. As proposed, the dividend was increased by 60 centimes to CHF 7 per share. Baloise’s shares have thus been confirmed as a reliable investment with long-term appeal.
After eleven and ten successful years respectively on the Board of Directors of Bâloise Holding Ltd, Dr. iur. Andreas Beerli and Thomas Pleines did not stand for re-election. Dr Thomas von Planta, Chairman of the Board of Directors, expressed his immense gratitude to them for their many years of invaluable work on the Board of Directors and its committees. Andreas Beerli’s most recent role was Vice-Chairman and he also chaired the Audit Committee, while Thomas Pleines chaired the Remuneration Committee. The Board of Directors has appointed Christoph Mäder as its new Vice-Chairman.
The shareholders elected lic. oec. HSG Claudia Dill and Dr. sc. nat. ETH Maya Bundt as new members of the Board of Directors, filling the two vacant seats. “The expertise of the two newly elected members in insurance and digital technologies will strengthen the Board of Directors. Claudia Dill worked in various managerial roles at the Zurich Insurance Group for more than 20 years, most recently as the member of the Corporate Executive Committee responsible for the Latin American market. Maya Bundt worked in various roles at Swiss Re, most recently heading up the Cyber & Digital Solutions department. Baloise’s Board of Directors is becoming younger, with greater female representation. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our two members,” said Dr Thomas von Planta in his speech.
All other members of the Board of Directors were re-elected for a term of one year.
After looking back at the completed Simply Safe: Season 1 strategic phase, this year’s Annual General Meeting focused on Simply Safe: Season 2. In his speech, Dr Thomas von Planta emphasised that sustainability is an integral part of the corporate strategy and will become even more important in the years ahead. “Sustainability has a direct impact on risk management and thus on our insurance, banking and asset management operations. We embedded various aspects of sustainability in our business processes during the past year,” he said.
Dr Thomas von Planta’s speech also underlined Baloise’s unique corporate culture, which plays a crucial role in the Company’s success. “The measures taken to contain the coronavirus pandemic changed the world of work in the past two years. And our customers were able to rely on us at all times. For our part, we were able to rely on our robust corporate culture,” he stressed. “It is important to make an effort to protect this culture. This includes bringing people back to the office, as contact in the workplace is what gives our employees the energy to deal with future challenges.”
The full speech in German by Dr Thomas von Planta can be downloaded from www.baloise.com/annual-general-meeting and can be watched as a video stream from 30 April 2022 at www.youtube.com/BaloiseGroup.
- Tuesday, 3 May 2022: Ex-dividend date
- Thursday, 5 May 2022: Dividend payment date
- Thursday, 25 August 2022: 2022 half-year financial results