Combined operating ratio climbs to 100% following floods
Fortis’s insurance arm has reported a 12% rise in profit to EUR 1.6 billion in 2007, despite the summer’s flooding.
The group’s non-life GWP was up 9% to EUR 5.5 billion, with a COR of 100%, deteriorated from 96.1% in 2006. Life GWP was also up 9% to EUR 13.2 billion.
Fortis’s international general insurance arm reported 10% growth, fuelled chiefly by the UK, especially in the motor market, the group’s annual report said.
Premium income was down 6% in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, due to seasonal affects and the depreciation of the pound against the Euro.
The effects of the UK floods and Windstorm Kyrill totalled EUR 213 million before tax and pushed the COR up. Without natural disasters, the COR would have been 95.7%.
