Zurich named Pensions and Life Assurance ‘Company of the Year’

When Joe Creegan, Head of Corporate Life and Pensions Ireland, Zurich, accepted an award of ‘Pensions and Life Assurance Company of the Year’ on behalf of the company, it was a show of recognition for superior investment performance.

In the highly competitive area of pensions, Zurich were previous winners at Chambers Ireland InBusiness Recognition Awards, but this June’s accolade was especially poignant because the company is constantly innovating and updating solutions for customers.

“The fact that our investment fund performance is in-house and we’ve been doing this for 40 years, it is great that this resonated with the judging panel and equally with our customers,” said Creegan. “The other thing that is to our benefit is being an insurance company means risk management is always on our agenda, and we are part of a large group that gives us financial strength. When you combine this financial strength with your best performance, you have a brand customers trust, and I do believe that contributed to our success.”

Creegan said the pensions landscape is two-fold for people in Ireland at the moment. It is a long-term investment so people need to be making sure they are investing in the right assets, and investing in a mixture of equities, government bonds and other assets to make sure that they will get a real return that beats inflation. The secondary point is that people need to choose wisely and have a provider that can deliver on performance. You need to be active about your initial choice and stay active once you’ve made it.

“What we would say is that we are an active manager as we make active decisions,” added Creegan. “We don’t just invest people’s money passively in an index fund but we will make decisions to buy into certain asset classes and companies which we believe will perform well and as a result we can demonstrate that over the last 10 years we have outperformed by over two per cent a year*, and when you compound that and it turns into a very significant amount at the point of retirement.

“I think the active piece is the important because a lot of the market tends to be more passive that buy an index with the perception being that maybe it’s cheaper or you’re taking less risk, but you’re actually not. I do believe people should be looking for a manager that is actively managing their money rather than just passively managing it.”

“Winning this award is especially meaningful as we prepare for Ireland’s new auto-enrolment pension system. We look forward to working closely with employers to find the best solutions for their employees in this new landscape.”

In its submission for this year’s awards, Zurich included an element around online solutions which is incorporated alongside its face-to-face interactions with customers.

“We have both services because you need to be able to help and support people in lots of ways particularly at a time when the markets are a little bit volatile like it was early this year,” continued Creegan. “People need to be reassured that if they are a long-term saver they can take on board that volatility and it can actually be good for them because in the long run that would probably deliver a better return. Additionally, having a view and being able to articulate it in times of stress helps keep savers on track. This is real active management.’’

“But what we try to do here is combine face-to-face and in-person communications with online solutions like our client centre that updates pension values every night, and that can help people to stay connected with their pension. People know they should have a pension, and when they do take it out, are they reviewing it and making sure that it’s going to be adequate? Are they putting in enough contributors or aware of how tax efficient pensions are? There is tax relief on every contribution so it shouldn’t be that difficult to convince people to join but often inertia gets in the way.”

Creegan said winning the award was especially meaningful as the country prepares for Ireland’s new auto-enrolment pension system which comes into effect in January of next year. He said the fact that a third of private sector workers don’t have a pension shows the need for a compulsory scheme, but it can’t be as simple as a ‘one size fits all’ solution.

“We look forward to working closely with employers to find the best solutions for their employees in this new landscape,” he said. “The ‘My Future Fund’ scheme will bring people into pension arrangements, but we would argue that for about 800,000 people involved, more than 200,000 of those pay tax at 40 per cent and the government incentive is more generous under a workplace pension arrangement than under ‘My Future Funds’.

“That scheme effectively gives 25 per cent extra to the individual, whereas under a workplace pension scheme or a private arrangement, they can get tax back at 40 per cent, which is a more generous government incentive.”

Zurich is already speaking with employers ahead of auto-enrolment changes. Last Thursday, the company hosted a webinar for a record number of employers who wanted to find more about the scheme and the choices available.

“A concern that I would have is that those 200,000 or more people who are paying tax at a higher rate may end up sleepwalking into auto-enrolment without having given it sufficient thought. But you must remember it’s only six months away, so people need to be making positive decisions soon rather than just be automatically enrolled.

“We’re trying to get as much information out there as we can to allow people to make the right decisions. The right decision for some people will be auto-enrolment but I do believe that close to a quarter of the 800,000 would be better off going for an alternative where they get the higher tax relief.”

For more information on Zurich corporate pensions and auto-enrolment, visit zurichcorporate.ie.

*Rubicon Multi-Asset Pension Fund Survey. July 2025

This article was first published in the Business Post.