Generali reports ‘resilient’ P&C market conditions

Generali has reported a solid first nine months in both its P&C and life businesses despite the hefty impact of natural catastrophes during the period, notably storms in January in Spain and the floods that mainly affected Germany in July.

The Milan-based group has a positive outlook for the global economy despite new variants of Covid-19, based on rising vaccination levels. As a result, it said it will continue to invest for growth in both mature and developing nations to extend its offering for customers.

“Even though there continues to be uncertainty as to the development of further variants of Covid-19, the current scenario, thanks to extensive vaccinations, foresees a recovery of the global economy, sustained by expansive monetary and fiscal policies, although this support is expected to gradually slow down. The global insurance sector, both life and P&C, will benefit from the positive macroeconomic scenario,” stated the group.

Group gross written premiums were up 6.4% to reach €54.9bn in the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period last year. P&C gross written premiums were up 6.2% to reach €17.5bn during the period. The group described general P&C market conditions as “resilient”.

The P&C combined ratio worsened in the first nine months of 2021 compared with last year, moving from 89.7% up to 91.3%. The impact of natural catastrophes rose from 1.4% for the first nine months of 2020 to 3% so far this year. This meant the P&C operating result worsened by 2.4%, falling from €1.83bn to €1.79bn.

Generali said natural catastrophe claims totalled €486m in the first nine months of this year, compared with €213m for the same period last year, including claims for storms that hit Spain in January and continental Europe in the summer, as well as floods that mainly affected Germany in July.

The non-catastrophe current-year loss ratio rose slightly, mostly in the motor line, compared to the first nine months of 2020, which had benefited from the lockdown effects; and it was partly offset by a lower impact from large manmade claims, explained the group.

Decent figures posted by the life and asset management businesses meant, however, that the group was able to post a net result up by 74% to reach €2.25bn, rising from €1.3bn for the first nine months of 2020.

Generali group CFO Cristiano Borean commented: “The results for the first nine months confirm the group’s excellent performance, technical profitability and solid trends across all businesses, with one of the highest solvency ratios in the sector. Life net inflows, entirely focused on the unit-linked and protection lines of business, continue to rise, while the P&C segment remains resilient, despite the higher impact of natural catastrophe claims. The results of the asset management segment continue to grow, also thanks to our multi-boutique strategy. These results, which are fully in line with the successful completion of the ‘Generali 2021’ strategic plan, represent a solid foundation for the new three-year plan we will present to the market on 15 December.”