Zurich GI premium/profit down

Zurich has said H1 general insurance figures were hit by catastrophe- and weather-driven events, but premiums fell 2% and profits fell 20%.

In local currency, premiums fell 4% and profits fell 19%.

General Insurance H1 highlights $m

• Gross written premiums and policy fees 17,940 (18,247)
• Business operating profit 1,377 (1,714)
• Combined ratio 98.0% (96.2%)

Senn says

Zurich’s chief executive officer Martin Senn said: “Our General Insurance business delivered a solid operating performance in a challenging economic and market environment.

“The business maintained its focus on protecting profit margins and absorbed the significant impact from an unusually large number of weather- and catastrophe-driven events.”

Rate increases

Zurich said: “Business operating profit decreased to USD 1.4 billion, mainly as a result of higher weather-related losses globally, the earthquake in Chile during the first quarter, and reduced investment income.

“Rate increases and targeted underwriting actions implemented over the past quarters compensated for the lower investment income contributing to improvements in the underlying loss ratio.

“However, the higher occurrence of severe weather- and catastrophe-driven events compared with prior year combined with lower volumes particularly impacting the expense ratio resulted in a deterioration of the combined ratio.

“The lower volumes were driven by both a continued decline in insured customer exposure, the competitive market environment and the group’s continued disciplined approach to underwriting.