Generali eyes ‘high potential markets’ for P&C expansion as profit jumps 74% in 9M

Profit and premium at Italian insurer  Generali soared in the first nine months of the year, driven by improvements in all group business segments including life, property/casualty and asset management. The company’s chief financial officer Cristiano Borean highlighted the “resilience” of its P&C business despite the higher impact of natural catastrophe claims.

The insurer also stated that it is continuing to rebalance its life portfolio to further increase profitability with a more efficient capital allocation. In the P&C segment, Generali’s objective is to maintain the positive trend of premiums and profitability despite the higher impact of nat cat claims, as well as gain ground in high potential markets by expanding its presence and offering.

Generali's net profit surged 74 percent to reach €2.25 billion in 9M 2021, compared with €1.3 billion in the prior year period. The significant improvement was driven by the increase in its operating result as well as the non-operating performance.

Gross written premiums increased to €54.9 billion, up 6.4 percent from €52 billion reported in the same period of last year. The life segment rose its GWP by 6.5 percent and the P&C segment by 6.2 percent.

However, its combined ratio during the period worsened 1.6 percentage points to 91.3 percent, from 89.7 percent seen in 9M 2020, attributable to the rise in the natural catastrophe loss ratio throughout all of the group's areas of operation.

Generali CFO Borean praised the company's “excellent performance, technical profitability and solid trends across all businesses with one of the highest Solvency Ratios in the sector”.

“Life net inflows, entirely focused on the unit-linked and protection lines of business, continue to rise, while the P&C segment remains resilient, despite the higher impact of natural catastrophe claims. The results of the Asset Management segment continue to grow, also thanks to our multi-boutique strategy,” he said.

Borean added: “These results, which are fully in line with the successful completion of the ‘Generali 2021’ strategic plan, represent a solid foundation for the new three-year plan we will present to the market on 15 December.”

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