A handful of global insurance giants have announced their third quarter results for 2014, with each sighting the lack of natural disasters as a key to profit so far this year.
Munich,
Zurich,
Allianz,
Beazley and
Swiss Re all announced their results with some solid growth shown across the brands.
Munich announced that it expects its Australian subsidiary Great Lakes Australia to support
Steadfast’s proposed acquisition of Calliden Group before the end of the year. Munich will spend around $40 million on the transaction.
Chairman of Munich, Dr. Nicholas von Bomhard, called the results “satisfying” and believes the company can “slightly exceed our original profit guidance of $43.3bn for 2014.”
“The figures for
Munich Re’s Group-wide business in the first nine months of the year are gratifying. Although the decrease in reinsurance prices has left its mark on the result, our profit and the positive development of our Group’s equity capital are a reflection of our forward-looking risk management, prudent investment policy and profit-oriented underwriting approach.
“Major-loss expenditure from natural catastrophes was significantly below the expected level and contributed to the good technical result,” Munich announced in its interim management report.
Zurich outlined a business operating profit up 7% from the prior year to $4.4bn, while gross written premiums for its general insurance business were up 1% for the nine-month period to September compared with last year at $2.7bn.
Chief Financial Officer of Zurich, George Quinn, said of the results: “Overall, this is a solid set of results.
“While we continue to make progress, we recognise the environment is getting tougher, underlining the need for us to remain focused on our strategic approach. We continue to optimise our portfolio, taking action on underpriced risks, and to prioritise investment in the markets and customer segments where we see the most attractive returns. Our very strong financial position gives us the capacity and flexibility to manage in a challenging environment."
Allianz saw its gross written premiums in its property and casualty market increase 5.7% to $1.6bn in the third quarter of 2013. The company also recorded a total revenues rise of 14.5% to $4.1bn and confirmed that the upper-end of its target range on operating profit for the full-year is within range.
CFO of Allianz, Dieter Wemmer spoke of the strong growth in the P&C market: ʺOur Property and Casualty business has seen a successful quarter following strong results in our core markets, supported by the absence of major natural catastrophes.
“Our premium growth is mostly volume driven, highlighting good demand for our products.ʺ
Beazley saw its premium rates on renewal business decrease by 1% while its gross written premium remained stable with the equivalent period of 2013.
Andrew Horton, CEO of Beazley, remained calm despite the lack of growth.
“Competition is intensifying in large risk and catastrophe exposed, short tail lines, where we are maintaining our underwriting discipline. This is to be expected given the generally benign claims environment experienced in recent periods."
Swiss Re had a strong third quarter with a net income of $3.8bn over the previous nine months, $1.3bn of which was earned in the third quarter.
Premiums earned also had an uptick of 10%, rising to US$13.5bn.
Group CEO Michel M. Liès says of the results: "Swiss Re's net income over the first nine months of 2014 is a successful result.
“We've again made good progress towards our financial targets and we've closed significant deals that show we can provide our clients with smart risk transfer solutions. This result is proof that going the extra mile for our clients pays off, especially as the markets continue to be soft and economic conditions seem to become more uncertain."
All figures have been converted into Australian dollars using www.xe.com on 11/11/14.
