While Zurich’s overall property & casualty gross written premium (GWP) is up (1%), things would have been a tad better if not for the decline in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa). 

Announcing its financial results for the first nine months this morning, Zurich reported the following numbers:

Property & casualty

• Overall - US$25.35 billion GWP, up 1%
• EMEA - US$10.97 billion, down 2%
• North America - US$11.6 billion, flat
• APAC - US$1.75 billion, up 8%
• Latin America - US$1.96 billion, up 12%   

Life 

• Overall - US$3.47 billion annual premium equivalent (APE), up 1%
• EMEA - US$2.46 billion, up 10%
• North America - US$40 million, down 19%
• APAC - US$134 million, up 10%
• Latin America - US$836 million, down 19%

The decrease in GWP for EMEA property & casualty was due to reductions in Germany, the UK, and Spain. As for the life APE sales for North America, Zurich did not elaborate. In Latin America, the drop was attributed to lower sales of corporate protection in Chile. 

“I am pleased with the development of our businesses in the year to date, particularly against a challenging industry backdrop in the third quarter,” said group chief financial officer George Quinn. “We expect the third quarter natural catastrophe events to drive improvements in pricing across our business.”

As reported three weeks ago, Zurich estimated third quarter claims for its property & casualty business in relation to hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria to be US$700 million net of reinsurance and before tax (US$620 million after tax).

Meanwhile Quinn added: “The Group is strongly capitalised and has continued to make progress against its strategic targets.”


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