Cigna New Zealand has posted a 12% increase in net premium revenue, underpinned by a 22% increase in sales for 2021.
The company’s underlying profit after tax was $97 million, up by 25% from $78.3 million in 2020. Its net assets position was $798 million as of end-2021.
“Overall life insurance industry sales grew by 13%, but Cigna’s grew by 22%,” said Gail Costa, Cigna New Zealand CEO. “This confirms that we’re one of the country’s fastest growing life insurers.” As well as protecting more new customers, our revenue growth was underpinned by a focus on retention.”
While the overall earnings result showed a shortfall of $4 million, this was largely driven by rising interest rates throughout 2021, the insurer said.
“Despite the wider global economic uncertainty, this year’s financials tell a story of strong underlying activity for the year,” Costa said. “Cigna maintains a strong credit rating and reported a solvency margin of $93.6 million as at December 2021.”
A total of $114.7 million in claims was paid out by Cigna last year. According to Costa, the company accepted over 93% of claims filed.
“This really demonstrates our commitment to finding solutions for our customers in their time of need,” she said.
In October, global insurance giant Chubb announced that it had acquired a number of Cigna businesses, including its New Zealand operations. A transition to the Chubb brand is already in the works.
