The FINANCIAL — Zurich Financial Services Group reported a business operating profit of USD 3.3 billion and net income after tax1 of USD 3.2 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2011.
"This result again demonstrates the success of our strategy. Our focus on profitability and market risk mitigation has enabled us to deliver a strong result," said Chief Executive Officer Martin Senn.
"I am also pleased with the performance of our Group investments, which delivered a net return of 3.9% for the first nine months."
"In emerging markets, we closed two major transactions this year. Our long-term alliance with Banco Santander is now finalized in all the five Latin American markets of Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, allowing us to extend our life and general insurance distribution capabilities and become one of the top four insurers in this fast growing region. In Malaysia, we completed the acquisition of Malaysia Assurance Alliance Berhad and further enhanced our presence as a full service insurance provider," Mr. Senn said.
The Group remains focused on delivering its targets. In General Insurance, underwriting discipline contributed to an improvement in the underlying loss ratio while maintaining the same level of gross written premiums. Global Life continues to make progress in diversifying into higher growth markets and Farmers maintains solid margins.
Results were impacted by significant weather events in the third quarter, particularly Hurricane Irene in the United States and hailstorms in Switzerland and Germany. Already, the half year results were impacted by a number of significant events, including the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand as well as weather events in Australia and the United States.
Zurich's capital position and solvency remain strong, and the capitalization ratio under the Swiss Solvency Test, as filed with the regulator for the half year ended June 30, 2011, was 225%. While Zurich does not run full SST calculations on a quarterly basis, the Group remains confident that the SST ratio was above 200% at the end of the third quarter. Shareholders' equity stands at USD 32 billion, which is the same level as year end 2010 and USD 801 million higher than at end of June 2011, and includes dividends of USD 2.7 billion paid out for 2010.
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