Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s (AGCS) profits more than doubled in 2018 to €282m and gross written premiums rose by 10% to €8.2bn, despite “relatively high” claims. The unit’s combined ratio improved to 101.5% in 2018 from 105.2% the previous year. But this is still higher than the group-wide P&C figure of 94% and above the 100 mark. AGCS said…
Allianz has delivered a 4% increase in operating profit to €11.5bn for full-year 2018, driven by P&C business where profit was up 13% to €5.7bn. P&C business hit its target combined ratio of 94% in 2018, improved from 95.2% a year earlier. Its revenues were up 2.6% to €53.6bn. Allianz said P&C numbers were based on strong underwriting results and…
AIG has reported an after-tax loss of $559m in Q4, booking a reserve charge of $365m to close full-year 2018 with a loss of $6m…
Insured nat cat losses were relatively high in 2018 as a series of events took their toll and helped deliver the costliest back-to-back years for insurers ever, according to analysis from reinsurers and brokers. Swiss Re estimates that global insured catastrophe losses totalled $79bn last year, the fourth highest it has recorded and above its ten-year average of $71bn. Natural…
Liberty Specialty Markets has entered the Italian casualty market for the first time, and recruited Paolo Pitton from Chubb to lead the venture. Antonio Sacchi, Liberty Specialty Markets’ general manager for Italy, said: “Since we launched in Italy in 2012, we’ve been steadily growing our presence, now reaching 35 people in our Milan office. We’re now adding a local underwriting…
Zurich has reported business operating profit up 20% to $4.6bn on the back of big P&C improvements, as the insurer enters the final year of a three-year plan on track to hit key financial targets. Underwriting improvements helped Zurich deliver a 35% rise in P&C business operating profit to $2.1bn last year, and a three-point improvement in the combined ratio…
A review of the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA) by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MoM) has proposed extending mandatory insurance coverage so that workers have a greater chance of being compensated for workplace accidents and injuries. The review proposes extending both the breadth of coverage and the size of the payouts. At present, WICA requires employers to compensate their employees…
Chubb has reported full-year net income of $3.96bn, an increase of almost 3%, despite income falling 77% to $355m in Q4 after it booked $506m of natural catastrophe losses. Full-year nat cat losses totalled $1.35bn, from $2.75bn in 2017…
Japanese insurer Mitsui Sumitomo has made a majority acquisition of insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager Leadenhall Capital partners (LCP) to further boost its own ILS business. The deal also comes at a time when some of the world’s biggest insurers are making their own acquisitions in the sector, in what could have major implications for the specialist insurance market. Mitsui’s…
Munich Re recorded €2.28bn profit last year, following 2017’s nat cat-hit €392m. The company’s numbers were boosted by primary business ERGO, which exceeded targets to book €412m of profit; and its reinsurance business, which recorded profit of €1.87bn – up from €120m in 2017. Munich re said ERGO put in a “very good operational performance” for the year, particularly in…