Zurich Insurance benefited from rising premiums and increased operating profit last year. However, net income was impacted by the difficult investment environment.
Insurance Group Zurich posted a 12 percent increase in operating profit to $6.45 billion last year, its highest since 2007, the insurer said Thursday.
In property and casualty insurance, operating profit rose 14 percent to $3.6 billion, with the combined ratio remaining stable at 94.3 percent, on continued margin improvement in the corporate business."
Life insurance profits were up 8 percent to $1.96 billion, and business with US partner Farmers was up 18 percent to $1.91 billion, helped by the acquisition of the Metlife Group's property and casualty business, he said.
Of the results, Group CEO Mario Greco said «we have exceeded our financial targets for the second consecutive three-year period. These were tough years with unexpected challenges during which we had to stay very agile and focused on our goals.»
Investment Business Lower
Net investment income posted a 42 percent drop to $4.1 billion compared with a strong 2021. Net investment return was 2.5 percent.
This had a corresponding negative impact on net income, which was down 12 percent to $4.60 billion.
Increased Dividend
Despite the lower net income, Zurich proposed raising its dividend by two francs to 24 francs per share on the back of its strong capital base. A share buyback program worth 1.8 billion Swiss francs has been underway since November.
The outlook assumes a weakening of premium increases and claims inflation.
