Swiss Life's TELIS Acquisition Amplifies Fee-First Strategy

Q1 2026 trading update shows broad-based growth, with a landmark German IFA deal set to add €200M+ in fee income.

SLHN.SW · Earnings Call · 2026-05-21

A Strong Start, with Fee Growth Across the Board

Swiss Life reported a "good start" to the year, with fee and commission income up 6% to CHF 686M and premiums up 5%. The CEO highlighted: “We had a good start to the year with pleasing top line growth in the first quarter of 2026, both the fee and the insurance businesses contributed to this growth.” — Matthias Aellig, CEO · 2026-05-21 The fee result remains a key focus, and the company is on track with its Swiss Life 2027 program. This growth is visible across all divisions, particularly in Germany and France, where fee income rose 5% and 8% respectively.

The TELIS Deal: A Strategic Bolt-On

The headline announcement is the acquisition of TELIS Group, a leading German IFA with ~1,800 advisers and fee income over €200M. CEO Matthias Aellig said: “This was a unique opportunity that we have seized from the founding family, who will stay with us in an advisory role.” — Matthias Aellig, CEO · 2026-05-21 This aligns with the company's bolt-on M&A strategy, focusing on fee businesses. The deal will increase Swiss Life Germany's adviser count to ~8,000 and total fee income to over €1B. Management anticipates a fee result contribution of €25–30M for 2025 (pre-tax, pre-financing), with the first full-year impact in 2027. Crucially, the CFO noted that this acquisition is an accelerator, not a necessity: "We do not need the TELIS acquisition to reach our fee result target" (as reiterated in the Q&A). The acquisition of TELIS is a clear strategic move to solidify leadership in the German IFA market.

With the acquisition, Swiss Life Germany will further strengthen its position as a leading financial advisory company. Combined, we will have, in Germany, around 8,000 certified advisers and a total fee income in excess of EUR 1 billion.
Matthias Aellig, CEO · 2026-05-21

The deal is financed via a €500M senior bond issued in April, and it is expected to close in Q3 2026, with minimal impact on holding cash or solvency.

Asset Management: Net New Assets Still Strong, but Normalizing

TPAM reported net new assets of CHF 4.2B, down from a record CHF 9.3B a year ago, as the CFO noted: “Net new assets in our TPAM business amounted to CHF 4.2 billion compared to CHF 9.3 billion in the first quarter 2025, which was exceptionally strong.” — Marco Gerussi, Group CFO · 2026-05-21 The inflows were driven by index business and real assets (CHF 0.8B), partially offset by money market outflows. The company sees this as consistent with its CHF 170B target by 2027. Non-recurring income from project development remains volatile, with the TPAM share at 13% in Q1 vs 25% guidance for the full year—management stressed that seasonality is at play. This echoes prior discussions about the non-recurring component, which has been a recurring theme (as seen in the company's keyword trajectory).

France and Switzerland: Profitability Over Top-Line, Unit-Linked Leadership

In France, premiums fell 2% but fee income rose 8%, driven by unit linked business (73% share vs market 41%). The CEO elaborated on the "profit first" approach, stating: "we follow profitability before growth." Switzerland saw strong premium growth (10%) in group life, with single premiums up 25%, partly from existing clients. Meanwhile, real estate continues to be a stable asset class: vacancy rates improved to 2.9%, and positive fair value changes of 0.3% were driven by the Swiss portfolio. This is consistent with prior quarters where real estate was a key driver of investment income and fee result, as noted in the 2024-09-03 call: “In terms of the reserve releases, let me put what we just said in the bigger context. We said, for the first half of 2024, we have reserve releases of about CHF 0.15 billion...” — Matthias Aellig, Chief Executive Officer · 2024-09-03

Outlook

Management reaffirmed all Swiss Life 2027 targets, including the fee result above CHF 1B. This marks a step up from the prior CHF 850–900M target, showing confidence in the growth trajectory. When asked about the fee result target in a prior call, the CEO said: “We continue to be confident that we reach the lower end of the CHF 850 million to CHF 900 million.” — Matthias Aellig, Chief Executive Officer · 2024-09-03 Now, with the TELIS deal and ongoing organic momentum, the company is positioning for a stronger outcome. Solvency remains robust with an SST ratio of ~210%, and the share buyback is on track. The combination of a strategic bolt-on acquisition, strong fee growth, and a solid balance sheet reinforces Swiss Life's ability to execute its fee-first strategy.