Fidelidade launches FIXO

The Fidelidade insurance group has announced the launch of an on-line services platform called FIXO whose goal is to facilitate the day-to-day life of the Portuguese and their families.

The Fixo Fidelidade digital solution provides access to a wide range of home services at any time, meaning domestic services, painting and decorating, cleaning and waterproofing, or fittings and installations,” says the insurance company.
The service, available via a computer or smartphone, at fix.pt, links users to a network of service providers simply and conveniently to help solve problem like fitting and plumbing or make household chores easier, like cleaning.
“FIXO” makes a large range of services available to our clients and the market as a whole which range from insurance, which we are already specialists at and market leaders,” says Mariana Frazão from the Fidelidade Transformation Centre.
The FIXO Fidelidade application “offers a platform that is practical and easy-to-use from which the client chooses the desired service and sees the price immediately without having to wait for a budget.” States the company.
Then the customer simply has to choose the address where the work is to be undertaken and book a date and time that is most convenient. As soon as the service is completed, the customer evaluated the work and pays on the platform.”
In a first phase, FIXO will be rolled out in just the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon and then later rolled out to the rest of the country.

The industry as a whole

Fidelidade registered profits of over €200 million for 2019 according to the company.
Owned by the Chinese company Fosun, the result corresponds to almost two-thirds of total profits in the insurance sector in Portugal.
In 2018, Fidelidade obtained a net result of €286 million which included extraordinary results from the sale of property.
By 2019 the insurance company saw its market share in Portugal from 35%, a volume of sales of €3.3Bn compared to €4.6Bn in 2018.
However, the news is not good for 2020 for the insurance industry as a whole with turnover falling 18.7%.
The production of direct insurance in Portugal fell 18.7% to €9.9Bn in 2020, with Life insurance falling 34.8% and Non-Life growing 3% according to the regulator.
According to the provisional accounts for 2020 from the Authority for the Supervision of Insurance and Pension Funds (ASF), in the Life segment the weight of retirement pension plans (PPRs) fell 19.3% (from 44.8% in 2019 to 25.5% in 2020), “As a result of a fall of 62.9% in output, a decrease that is trending across the industry in most segments.
In terms of Non Life, the various sub-sectors saw the following: Accidents and Illness (3.2%), Fire and Other Damage (4.3%) and Vehicles (2.1%).
Studying the market shares for the Life segment over the past three years, the regulator says that Fidelidade maintains the market leadership, with a market share of 25.7%.
“Worth emphasising for the same period, both Fidelidade and Santander (two percentage points and 0.6 percentage points respectively),” it states.
The Fidelidade group also had leadership in the Non Life segments with a market share of 28.4%.
According to ASF, for the period under analysis, “Only the Fidelidade and Ageas groups enjoyed a slight increase in their respective market shares (0.5% and 0.3%) respectively.
Regarding the structure of the insurance companies market which are under the supervision of the ASF — whose market quota corresponds to 88.9%, or €8.8Bn, there was a reduction in the number of insurance companies because of a merger (Generali Seguros and Generali Vida, which were incorporated into Seguradoras Unidas).
Overall, within the scope of European Union insurance company branches, the market saw the exit of three: Axa Life, London General and Lloyd’s.
According to the regulator, the “first two no longer had any output”.
Overall in 2020, the decrease in direct insurance was strongly influenced by a 50% decrease in the Life insurance segment.
Health insurance has continued to grow over the past few years, revealing the population’s growing concern at getting access to medical care according to data from the Portuguese Association of Insurers (APS).
Although the numbers are provisional, insurance premiums issue by health insurers for 2020 show an increase of 8.2% in 2019. In 2020, the output of sickness insurance rose to €950 million on the €877 million seen in 2019.