OneLife – Finance Team of the Year

On November 15^th 2016, OneLife was awarded the Finance Team of the Year, for the agility of the project management, creation and successful launch of its new App.

Christophe Regnault, Digital Marketing Manager, and Eric Lippert, CIO, receiving the trophy. © Dominique Gaul

It all started from our employees

Our Digital Marketing plan initiated last year started with our employees, encouraging them to come to us with any ideas they would see or have as digital should be first and foremost seen as a business enabler.

While the app was a key milestone to us, it is one of our employees, Valérie Vaes, who really triggered this thanks to a great example she saw during a meeting with one of our business partners. It then quickly became a cross department teamwork (wealth structuring, tax and legal, IT, client services, etc…).

« CR: Digital is a business enabler creating value by contributing in a tangible way to the whole business. Digitalization also creates a new mind-set and dynamics that enables a company like ours to move forward in terms of innovation. »

A digital dynamic …

As a result of stepping into a digital approach, the first key challenge was speed of delivery. In the end, we had the business case validated by our executive committee in a week. And our App finalized in 3 months.

The second was to find the right partner. And we found an amazing one. We chose Ainos (link) for their involvement and commitment. We felt like being part of the same team throughout this project and I think this is just the beginning of a very interesting collaboration. We also had to choose the development platform. We were convinced by Xamarin, recently bought by Microsoft, that enabled us to develop native App for each OS we selected (iOS & Android).

Another key factor was the way we integrated the workflows into the App. For this critical part, our Architect, Marc Leoka, and our internal teams played a key role.

“EL: In the case of the App, this is the perfect example that demonstrates how we have both worked together to link the workflows and the web services to feed the App with the information we wanted to provide to our business partners.”

… worked in a phased approach

OneLife has taken a phased approach, building momentum internally by engaging our employees in the digital and social media dynamics. Then, we moved on implementing CRM and campaigning softwares all linked to a brand new and disruptive website launched at the time of our rebranding in June this year. Then came the mobile part focused on reinforcing our relationship with and creating value to our business partners.

Two years ago, we started a huge project which resulted in the complete overhaul of our infrastructure and the implementation of new SOA software architecture. The foundations were ready to further develop our digital strategy, enabling it to build upon top notch foundations. In the case of the App, this is the perfect example that demonstrates how we – with our partner – have both worked together to link the workflows and the web services to feed the App with the information we wanted to provide to our business partners.

Read more :

“A TEAM IN THE RACE FOR INNOVATION AND ENGAGEMENT OF OUR EVER-CHANGING CLIENTS” >>> Here.

AVEC AINOS, ONELIFE ENCLENCHE UNE NOUVELLE ÉTAPE DÉCISIVE DE SA TRANSFORMATION DIGITALE >>> Here.

OneLife’s ambition? To make digital a business enabler.

Driven by the will to expand its footprint across Europe, the need to adapt to the expectations of new generations, and the ambition to overturn conventional attitudes to life assurance, OneLife has made the strategic choice to deploy eProseed FSIP, an automation, integration and supervision platform that enables organizations to adapt their business models and operations to meet the requirements of increasingly digital ecosystems.

Eric Lippert is the CIO of OneLife, a European player in life assurance and wealth management. A a specialist in IT transformation, he shares with us the reasoning behind his choice and the resulting benefits, in the company of Laurent Pulinckx, COO of eProseed

“Leveraging on the new opportunities that digital offers and on our decision to make it a real business enabler, we undertook, almost two years ago, a complete overhaul of our information systems in order to benefit from a sound basis for ensuring optimal transition to digital”, Eric Lippert explains. “We have therefore streamlined the existing systems, deployed new infrastructure elements – servers, storage, networking, security – and implemented new software architecture tools. These are the new foundations that enable us today to deliver innovative digital solutions to our clients, our network of partners and our internal users. We have just launched a new mobile application for our partners who can now view the status of their insurance transactions, at any time and from everywhere. In our industry in Luxembourg, it is a premiere”, he points out.

Streamlining the information systems

“When I took up my post as CIO in early 2015, OneLife’s information systems were based on a heavy, complex and outdated machinery. The reason being that OneLife was formed through the acquisition of different companies, without any genuine rationalization of the IT systems. As an example, on top of an obsolete infrastructure, we had to manage eight printing systems, eight contract management systems, three accounting systems, four extranets, two data warehouse systems, … So, one of our main objectives was to implement common processes for all our insurance portfolios”, Eric Lippert explains. In order to achieve this, OneLife, in collaboration with eProseed, has deployed a service-oriented architecture, new workflow and case management tools, and a new document management solution. The FSIP platform has provided OneLife with technical and architectural solutions for all of its integration and automation needs. “All our insurance transaction management processes are now harmonized and orchestrated by the eProseed FSIP solution tools,” Eric Lippert says. “As for the renewal of our data warehouse system, it is planned for 2018.”

“I am convinced that the IT systems rationalization capabilities of eProseed FSIP are highly valuable assets for fluid, cost-effective and successful digital transformation.” – Eric Lippert

A fluid and consistent software architecture

Given the breadth of the company’s transformation plan, the CIO of OneLife did not want to embark on a way of selecting solutions that would have forced him to repeat the process for each of the elements to be implemented and to raise each time the question of their interoperability. “Our strategy has been to choose a single platform capable of meeting all of our current as well as future needs. This one-stop-shop strategy offers the advantage of a fluid, consistent and harmonious software architecture which allows efforts to be concentrated on business solutions rather than technological issues. Even though we had to convince some stakeholders of the relevance of our approach, this strategy has proven to be the right choice as demonstrated by the subsequent course of events”. And it was eProseed FSIP that best matched the selection criteria thus defined. “With the other providers consulted, I did not find a level of integration and consistency of all the architectural elements comparable to what eProseed FSIP offered”, underlines Eric Lippert.

Turning IT into a tool for creating value

“The IT transformation projects that we carry out aim to achieve three objectives common to many of our clients”, says Laurent Pulinckx. “Our first concern is to automate recurring tasks, thus enabling the reallocation of resources and skills to missions with higher added value, increasing efficiency and improving service quality, which puts the client back at center stage. Then comes the advanced and real-time integration of data sources with a wide variety of formats and interfacing models. Finally, the adoption of a future-oriented platform such as eProseed FSIP makes it possible to integrate the legacy systems in a single solution based on industry standards”.

“This approach echoes our will to turn IT into a tool for creating value for the company”, adds the CIO of OneLife. “Throughout the execution of our transformation plan, we have always kept in mind that, beyond streamlining costs, we also had to be innovative even if we sometimes had to be the first in our industry to adopt certain solutions.”

When users become advocates for change

If such a transformation of OneLife’s key processes could be carried out successfully, it is because close collaboration was established between the IT teams of the company and the experts from eProseed, but also between those two stakeholders and the users. “The dialogue between the three parties has actually played a significant role in the success of the project,” says Laurent Pulinckx. “The users were not solicited at the end of the project, at the time of testing, as is too often the case. OneLife managed to mobilize the different operational and technical interlocutors under one single leadership, that of its CIO. I also want to point out the role of change agents played by the business users who were involved in the project: they proved to be the best advocates of the new solution vis-à-vis their colleagues.”

“Out of all the business solution delivery projects in which I have been involved, it is clearly during this one that the users were the most enthusiastic and motivated, both to obtain a pragmatic answer to their needs and to implement change on the ground”, adds Eric Lippert.

OneLife managed to mobilize the different operational and technical interlocutors under one single leadership, that of its CIO.” – Laurent Pulinckx

A platform ready to tackle the next challenges of the digital economy

Less than eight months have elapsed between the beginning of OneLife’s process redesign project and the delivery of the new platform to the users. Meanwhile, more than three million elements were migrated to a new document management system. Today, eProseed FSIP enables OneLife to continuously optimize its services, helps reduce costs and allows more effective portfolio and client management while providing IT as well as business teams with new monitoring and tracking capabilities.

“FSIP’s automation and integration capabilities and eProseed’s technical expertise have helped us complete a digital transformation that allows us to offer our users a new experience, a more efficient and faster fully dematerialized service. eProseed’s solution not only improves our overall efficiency, but also provides real-time tracking of our clients’ and partners’ transaction portfolios”, Eric Lippert sums up.

RAIFs and SPIFs – the best of both worlds

On 14 July 2016, legislation took effect in Luxembourg introducing a new type of investment vehicle, the Reserved Alternative Investment Fund or RAIF. The RAIF is regulated under the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) Directive (2011/61/UE of 8 June 2011) and is not supervised by the Luxembourg regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). Sufficient protection and oversight comes from management of the RAIF by an authorised external AIFM.

Historically, Luxembourg’s regulatory approach has been based on product regulation, in this case the supervision of funds. This has led to the creation of a range of regulated investment funds including:

UCITS subject to Part I of the legislation of 17 December 2010 on Undertakings for Collective Investment;
Part II funds subject to Part II of the 2010 legislation (non-UCITS funds);
SIFs subject to the legislation of 13 February 2007 on Specialised Investment Funds, as amended, restricted to well-informed investors; and
SICARs (risk capital investment companies) subject to the legislation of 15 June 2004 on the SICAR, as amended, covering risk capital investments.

Wealth managers now have the choice, depending on the investor’s preferences and profile, between setting up alternative investment funds as Part II Funds, SIFs or SICARs which are subject to direct supervision by the CSSF, or RAIFs, which are more attractive from a time-to-market perspective.

The Luxembourg insurance regulator, the Commissariat aux Assurances or CAA, permits a wide range of investments in the form of an Internal Dedicated Fund and/or Specialised Insurance Fund (SPIF).

At OneLife, these investments may include notably unquoted/unlisted assets, depending generally on the investment strategy of the life assurance policy.

While Internal Dedicated Funds offers discretionary, mandated management, the SPIF, a recent solution introduced by the CAA in Circular 15/3, enables policyholders to select the underlying asset(s) of their policy independently from a list of assets predefined by the insurer. The SPIF is aimed at a ‘buy and hold’ strategy.

This low-cost solution, which does not involve an investment manager, can be used for investors in private equity or other long-term assets, such as real estate or securitisation instruments.

While the RAIF is available only to well-informed investors, the SPIF is aimed at Category D investors (category C in certain cases) as defined by the CAA. The admissible underlying assets of a Luxembourg life assurance policy are determined according to the regulatory classification of the policyholder, in principle based on the amount of the initial premium as well as the policyholder‘s total wealth and their investment profile, which depends on their risk profile.

Combining the RAIF and the innovative SPIF solution clearly enhances the efficiency of investment transactions involving real estate, private equity or securitisation instruments by offering a low-cost solution for the policyholder, due to the absence of an investment manager and other intermediation.

The aim is eventually to create an investment option tailored to the policyholder’s particular objectives and needs.

UPDATE : Interest on RAIF “OneLife” solutions strongly increased since few months. Since RAIF launch in July 2016, the interest shown by the alternative investments industry to the Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (“RAIF”) is real and concrete. Indeed, at the end of February 2017, we counted up to 53 RAIFs distributed on the European market.

Anthony Lorrain

Director – Unquoted & Traditional Assets

https://lu.linkedin.com/in/anthony-lorrain

>>> For more info on RAIFs or other underlying assets available within our life assurance contracts, please contact our Investment specialists at: Users_IFS@onelife.com

>>> This article is part of the September 2016 edition of our monthly newsletter Life Insights. Click below to subscribe.

The multitude of benefits a Life Assurance contract can bring

One wealth transfer plan. Four key benefits. You guessed it – it’s an OneLife Life Assurance contract.

Not only can a life assurance contract meet cross-border requirements in case of relocation to another country, providing you with favourable tax regimes, it also offers a gateway to a whole world of investment opportunities.

And it doesn’t stop there. A life assurance contract with OneLife means you are protected within the Triangle of Security – which in a nutshell, means that in the case of a default, you will have preferential rights over all other creditors on the entire pool of assets invested in various segregated accounts.

It sounds pretty good to us, but why don’t you see for yourself?

>>> Click here to learn more about the ways in which a OneLife life assurance contract has benefitted families just like yours…

(Click below to download our e-Book.)

Put yourself in their shoes…

In today’s consumer culture, we are all bombarded with information about seemingly exciting new products and services. Life assurance isn’t right for everyone but it is a flexible solution that can adapt to the needs of different individuals and families. OneLife’s Succession e-Book demonstrates how some families have filled the gaps in their wealth transfer planning by leveraging this tool.

Perhaps the experience of Martin, a French retiree concerned about giving enough money to his two daughters from his first marriage, resonates with you… or maybe Timo and Anna Tuominen with their dual objectives of supporting their children’s careers while saving an inheritance for their two grandchildren, strike a chord?

Whether your situation places you as the benefactor or beneficiary in any of these scenarios, our family case studies clarify exactly how life assurance can help you as well.

Why not see for yourself? Click below to download our e-Book.

Which OneLife family are you? Reap the benefits of life assurance contracts, as they did.

The Blanchet family. The Peeters family. The Tuominen family.

Three families living in different countries, with varying family structures and very diverse requirements.

So, what do they have in common? Life assurance. A Luxembourg life assurance contract to be exact. And this contract has lived up to its promise of being an ideal solution for each and every one of these families, due to the high level of customisation and flexibility it provides.

Click below to learn more about the ways in which these three families have reaped the benefits… (Click below to download our e-Book.)

No matter your stage of life, be prepared with our checklist.

Life – the long and winding road, full of exciting possibilities, diversions, and sometimes even big and unexpected bumps.

But, no matter what stage of life you are in, we have expert advice ready for you. To get you started, take a look at our Succession planning check-list.

Have you asked all of the right questions?

Click below to download our Slide Share.

Get to the Essentials ?

We get it. Planning for the future can be overwhelming and emotionally draining.

“How do I know where my family will be in ten years? How much money will I need? Will I still be as healthy? Will my spouse be protected if I pass away first?”

There are a lot of factors to consider – but here at OneLife, we take pride in making your wealth transfer planning more secure, easier and believe it or not, inspiring.

Take a look at our succession planning checklist, to learn more about the factors you should consider when you start speaking to an adviser about inheritance: (Click below to download our Slide Share.)

Complicated? Unsexy? Inaccessible?

Life Assurance – those two words haven’t always inspired a great deal of enthusiasm or excitement.

But we truly believe we can change that. Here at OneLife, we have had enough of the complicated terms and multi-jurisdictional confusions – so we have put together some case studies to help you visualise what life assurance could do for you and your family.

These studies provide insight on three international families’ experiences with Luxembourg life assurance contracts.

>>> Click below to download our e-Book.

Putting all of your eggs in one basket?

They say, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” Clearly, the person who first came up with this expression didn’t have a Luxembourg Life Assurance contract.

How can we be so confident in assuming this?

Because these contracts are robust enough to prepare you for any life milestone – no matter if it is the death of a loved family member, saving up for a big move, or planning for your grandchildren’s future. OneLife has compiled the stories of three families across Europe, each of whom has identified the innumerable benefits that a Luxembourg Life Assurance contract has brought them.

The Blanchet family for instance, wanted to ensure their children from previous marriages would be appropriately cared for were something to happen to their father and mother.

The Peeters family is one of those classic international, 21^st century families – spread all across Europe, speaking several different languages and taking very different, interesting paths in life. Their main aim in signing up for a life assurance contract was to find a solution to avoid double taxation in the context of cross-border succession.

The Tuominen family relayed that their contract helped them financially manage their situation even when they themselves could not emotionally manage the death of a family member.

Do any of these concerns sound familiar? Then you’ve come to the right place. Delve into our Succession e-Book to explore the multitude of ways in which a Life Assurance contract can help you.

Click below to download our e-Book!