International insurer
Allianz has posted double-digit growth for the first quarter of 2016, boosted by limited natural catastrophe losses.
According to the Germany-based firm, its net income rose to €2.29bn (US$2.61bn), higher by 18.5% from the same period in 2015. Chief financial officer Dieter Wemmer described the results as “very good” in a conference call.
The company’s property and casualty gross premiums written reached €17.2bn (US$19.61bn) for Q1 2016, a 0.5% year-on-year decrease due to negative foreign exchange effects. However, the division’s operating profits grew by 12% to €1.44bn (US$1.64bn) due to lower claims from natural disasters, with only €20m in losses, as well as lower restructuring expenses. The P&C division’s combined ratio also improved 1.3 points to 93.3%.
“I'm not sure that you can call €20 million a cat event, so it was (a) cat-free quarter,” Wemmer said.
Despite the huge wildfire in Alberta causing US$7bn in industry-wide damage, Wemmer predicts that it would not cause major losses for Allianz.
“In the second quarter, certainly the industry will see more cat events,” Wemmer said. “The Canadian wildfire, which is still devastating Alberta, is certainly creating a fairly sizable insurance event for the industry. We are not very big in Canada, so I don't think that it will hit Allianz a lot, but it is a big industry event.”
The insurer’s German P&C business also had a strong quarter, with revenue up by 2.6% and combined ratio improving by nine points to 89%. However, the Allianz World Partners' division was quite affected by the Zika virus outbreak, with its combined ratio rising to 101.2%, amid mounting travel cancellations.
