Report of the Supervisory Board 2023 02.05.2024
Report of the Supervisory Board
Report of the
Supervisory Board
Dear Shareholders, dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please allow me to begin by expressing our sincere thanks on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board to my predecessor
The Supervisory Board of the
1. What was particularly important to us in 2023
Our nine meetings were focused on evaluating the implementation of our "UNIQA 3.0 - Seeding The Future" strategic programme, which comes to an end in
The Supervisory Board deals with a broad range of topics. While regulatory and supervisory issues are taking up more and more of our time (in addition to the obvious evaluation of operational business development), we continue to focus intensively on three areas that are of particular importance for UNIQA's long-term development: cultural transforma- tion, diversity and human development, i.e. the battle for the best talent in challenging labour markets. Along these lines, we have welcomed around 6,000 new employees across the Group in the last three years alone; we are focusing on the strategic importance of the ESG concept with its broad- based impact on product design, asset management and gov- ernance; and finally, we are devoting ourselves to thecost-intensive and demanding process of technological and digital transformation of the company.
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Annual Financial Report 2023
2. Timeline and details of our main areas of focus
In the course of 2023, the Supervisory Board was regularly informed by the Management Board about the business performance and position of
Four information events and special seminars were held for the Supervisory Board in 2023, providing information on the topics of "Diversity & Inclusion", "IT Security", "ESG" and "Compliance & Regulatory".
Focus of our deliberations
The Supervisory Board held nine meetings in 2023. Our meetings focused on the Group's respective current earnings situation and the Group's further strategic development. The Supervisory Board in particular held three extraordinary meetings in the second half of the year to discuss the plans for the development of the corporate strategy from 2025 as well as governance issues. We also took two decisions by way of circular resolution: the first was on 9 May to approve the implementation of a capital measure by
- At our meeting held on22 February, we mainly discussed the Group's preliminary results for the 2022 financial year. The 2023 budget was also approved in accordance with the new IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 accounting standards.
- The Supervisory Board meeting on12 April focused on the audit of the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements for the year ended
31 December 2022 and on the reports from the Management Board with up- to-date information on the performance of the Group in the first quarter of 2023. We also discussed the items on the agenda of the 24th Annual General Meeting on 6 June, in particular the proposal for the appropriation of profits, the proposal for the election of Supervisory Board mem- bers and the proposal to the Annual General Meeting to re-elect PwC Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH as statutory au- ditors for the 2024 financial year. The report by auditors PwC Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH and lawyers Schönherr Rechtsanwälte GmbH regarding compliance with the provi- sions of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance (ÖCGK) in the 2022 financial year was also acknowledged. - At the meeting on25 May, we looked in detail at the Group's earnings in the first quarter and development in the ongoing second quarter.
- The newly elected Supervisory Board was constituted on6 June following the Annual General Meeting. The Chair- man of the Supervisory Board,
Walter Rothensteiner , stepped down from the Supervisory Board as a result of reaching the statutory age limit.Walter Rothensteiner had held this position for the last eleven years. All in all, he had been a member of the Supervisory Board since 1995.
Burkhard Gantenbein succeeded him as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. This event as well as the re-election of the other existing members of the Supervisory Board and Rudolf Könighofer's election to the Supervisory Board resulted in changes to the composition of the Executive Committee and the Supervisory Board committees. The Supervisory Board also approved the termination of the re- maining volume of the subordinated capital debt issued in 2013 that was still outstanding after the settlement of an exchange offer, effective31 July 2023 .
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Report of the Supervisory Board
- We met at the registered office of our Polish insurance group company in
Warsaw on23 August and dealt specif- ically with the Group's earnings situation in the first half of the year and developments in the ongoing third quarter. The sale of our 75 per cent holding in Raiffeisen Life Rus- sia was also approved, subject to approval by the relevant authorities. - The Supervisory Board held three extraordinary meetings on
19 September, 18 October and 10 November to discuss the preparations for the development of a new strategic pro- gramme from the 2025 financial year onwards, in which the Supervisory Board will be closely involved. Final approval of the programme is scheduled forNovember 2024 . We also discussed governance issues. - In addition to reporting on the Group's profits in the first three quarters and ongoing developments in the fourth quar- ter, our meeting on22 November also covered the updated forecast for the 2023 financial year. The 2024 budget put forward by the Management Board and the medium-term planning up to 2028 were also discussed. The acquisition of
Warsaw -based Telemedi ofWarsaw -based Telemedi, Po- land's largest provider of telemedicine services, was also approved.Poland's largest provider of telemedicine servic- es. Cost increases due to rising inflation were also approved for the project to rebuild and merge the Confraternität and Goldenes Kreuz private clinics at the site of the Confrater- nität private clinic. Finally, we looked at the efficiency of our activities as a Supervisory Board. The decision was also taken to further reduce the size of the Management Board, with the result that it will be made up of seven members in future instead of nine.Peter Eichler andErik Leyers' terms of office on the Management Board are scheduled to end on30 June 2024 . In order to optimise synergies in the Management Board departments,Wolf-Christoph Gerlach will also take overErik Leyers' responsibilities andRené Knapp those ofPeter Eichler . The mandates of the Man- agement Board members were extended untilJune 2028 ,
with Sabine Pfeffer's mandate running unchanged until the end of 2026 until further notice. Following the discussions at the three extraordinary meetings in September, October and November, the Management Board was finally tasked with drawing up the strategic programme from 2025 on- wards.
Committees of the Supervisory Board
In addition to the Audit Committee required by law, we have set up and appointed a further six committees in order to ensure that the work of our Supervisory Board is structured effectively.
- The Committee for Board Affairs ('Personnel Committee') corresponds with the Executive Committee of the Super- visory Board in terms of its composition. The Committee also performs the tasks of a Nominating and Remuneration Committee (for the Management Board) in parallel. The Executive Committee or the abovementioned Personnel Committee held several meetings in 2023 for intensive dis- cussions on the progress made in implementing the UNIQA 3.0 strategic programme, as well as on issues relating to the corporate strategy's future direction. The meetings also dealt with the preparation of the remuneration reports for the Management Board and the Supervisory Board in align- ment with the respective existing remuneration policies as well as remuneration matters relating to the Management Board.
- TheAudit Committee held three meetings in the 2023 fi- nancial year with representatives of the (Group) auditor PwC Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH also present, with discus- sions also held with these without the Management Board present. The meeting on 12 April addressed all financial statement documentation, the proposed appropriation of profit and the statutory auditor's report on the audit of the company's risk management. In addition, the 2022 annual report of the Internal Audit department, including the audit plan for the current year and the 2022 annual activity re- port of the compliance officers, was presented and acknowl- edged. Furthermore, PwC Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH was once again proposed for election as statutory auditor for the 2024 financial year. At the meeting held on 25 May, the statutory auditor's representatives presented the planning of the audit procedures for the
UNIQA Group companies for the 2023 financial year and agreed these with the Commit- tee. At the meeting held on 22 November, representatives of the auditor informed the Committee of the findings from its preliminary audits. In addition, the Committee received quarterly reports from Internal Audit on the areas audited by this department and any material findings that arose from these audit actions, and the Compliance Officer report- ed on her activities on an ongoing basis. The Committee fulfilled its remit of monitoring the accounting process.
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Annual Financial Report 2023
- TheInvestment Committee held four meetings during which the members discussed the capital investment strategy, questions concerning capital structure and the focus for risk management and asset liability management.
- TheIT Committee held four meetings to discuss the ongoing monitoring of progress in the implementation of the UNIQA Insurance Platform and other IT projects, in particular the project portfolio.
- The Digital Transformation Committee held four meetings devoted to the activities of
UNIQA Ventures , CHERRISK and the activities ofMavie Holding , which develops health offerings that go beyond classic insurance products. The progress of insurance products and services available digi- tally was also evaluated with new and agile ways of work- ing also discussed. As in the previous year, the Committee invited several guest speakers. - The Supervisory Board's Human Resources and Gener- al Remuneration Committee ("HR Committee") held four meetings on diversity and inclusion matters, employee de- velopment and talent management issues, executive remu- neration schemes and employee participation programmes. The Committee also dealt intensively with the progress of the HR strategy within the framework of UNIQA 3.0. The HR Committee's activities are closely coordinated with the Personnel Committee. Guest speakers were invited to the meetings to address specificHR-relatedtopics.
- TheWorking Committee did not hold any meetings in the past financial year.
The chairs of the respective committees informed the full Supervisory Board in detail about the meetings and their committees' work.
3. Separate and consolidated financial statements
The separate financial statements prepared by the Management Board, the Management Report of
The Supervisory Board acknowledged and approved the findings of the audit.
The evaluation of UNIQA's compliance with the rules of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance in the 2023 financial year was carried out by PwC Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH, whereas compliance with Rules 77 to 83 of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance was assessed by Schönherr Rechtsanwälte GmbH. The evaluations found that UNIQA had complied with the rules of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance in the 2023 financial year - to the extent that they were included in UNIQA's declaration of conform- ity.
The Supervisory Board acknowledged the consolidated financial statements for 2023 and approved the 2023 annual financial statements of
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Report of the Supervisory Board
The Supervisory Board reviewed and approved the proposal for the appropriation of profit submitted by the Management Board. Accordingly, a dividend distribution of €0.57 per share will be proposed to the Annual General Meeting on
This year, once again, I would like to take the opportunity on behalf of the Supervisory Board to extend my warmest thanks to all employees of
On behalf of the Supervisory Board
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
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Attachments
Disclaimer


Convocation of the Shareholders 02.05.2024
Consolidated Non-Financial Report 2023 02.05.2024
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