Zurich’s UK general insurance business made an operating profit of $40m in the first quarter of 2011, down 16.7% on the $48m it made in the same period last year.
The division made an underwriting loss of $8m in Q1 2011, compared with a $5m underwriting profit in Q1 2010, and the combined ratio jumped to 101.2% from 99.4%.
In addition, gross written premiums and policy fees fell 10.7% to $540m from $605m.
The result comes against a background of rate increases and re-underwriting in personal lines motor business and the winter freeze at the beginning of the year.
While the results in Zurich’s UK general insurance division were down, performance improved in the European general insurance unit as a whole in Q1 2011. Operating profit increased 43.6% to $326m from $227m and the combined ratio improved to 94.1% from 97.8%.
Zurich attributed the improvement in European general insurance to “continued focus on rate tiering and underwriting strategies as well as benign weather conditions compared with the same period of 2010”.
Group-wide, Zurich’s general insurance business was hit by the heavy burden of global natural catastrophes. Operating profit fell 56% to $276m from $621m. The combined ratio jumped 4.6 points to a loss-making 103.6% in Q1 2011 from a profitable 99% in Q1 2010.
The insurer booked aggregated losses of $517m for five natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific – the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand, as well as the Victoria storms, cyclone Yasi and the Brisbane floods in Australia.
