How have you found the move to Ireland?
Moving overseas, especially with our two children, has been a big step for us as a family. Business-wise it is more or less the same. It doesn’t really matter if you are in Sweden or Ireland, there are some differences with the legislation and the regulator but otherwise it’s pretty much the same.
Ireland isn’t known as an ice hockey playing nation. As a fan, how are you coping?
They seem to be more into rugby and hurling, which I have been trying to catch up with. Hurling is a little bit like ice hockey in that you have a stick and you need to run instead of skate. It has a lot of body contact, so very similar to ice hockey in that sense.
How would you describe SEB Life International to those unfamiliar with the firm?
We are a cross-border insurance company based in Ireland that mostly distributes personal portfolio bonds. We operate exclusively in Europe using the freedom to provide services regime, offering fully locally tax-compliant solutions. We don’t have any plans to expand beyond that.
All the business we offer through our portfolio bond is unit-linked and our clients tend to be high net-worth individuals and are mainly Nordic.
We have three big markets. Sweden is number one, with 40% of our clients living there. Next is Finland, where 35% live. That means three-quarters of our clients come from Sweden and Finland. We also have a domestic market in Italy that accounts for between 5% and 10% of our market.
The rest of our clients are expats living in different European countries. They tend to originate from Sweden, Finland or the UK.
With the focus on the Nordics, why did you decide to set up in Ireland?
The decision was made more than 20 years ago. At that time, if you were thinking about doing cross-border business in Europe, there were only two places to go: Ireland or Luxembourg. We chose Ireland as it has a more flexible investment universe and was more attractive from a cost and regulatory perspective.
Is Brexit a concern for you?
Yes it is. Everyone is waiting for more information around Brexit and the treaties that will be set up afterwards. We have a business in the UK and we don’t really know how that could be affected in future.
Is there a possibility that, if a full Brexit goes ahead, SEB Life might no longer serve the UK?
It is too early to say but we do have a branch in the UK from which we could operate. The UK is an attractive market for us as there are many Swedish and Nordic customers living and working there, particularly in London.
That puts SEB ahead of the game as a lot of UK companies are looking to set up branches in Europe and vice versa.
Yes, we know. A lot of them are coming here.
Has there been a noticeable increase in activity in Ireland?
Things are really moving again, especially in the rental market. A lot of companies are looking to relocate to somewhere in Europe so, if you’re looking for an English-speaking hub, Dublin is one of the few that you can be in and still be quite close to the UK.
What distribution channels do you have?
We have a multi-distribution model. In all of the countries in which the company operates we have two ‘legs’.
One internal leg is connected to SEB Private Banking, which has operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway and an international private banking operation in Luxembourg. We also have close co-operation with a number of private banks throughout Europe. Over 60% of our distribution comes from the private banking channel.
The other leg is the intermediary side, which can be split into IFAs and tied agents. We have several tied agencies we are working with in Finland. Everywhere else in Europe, except for Sweden and Finland, we only work with independent financial advisers.
