Zurich more than quadruples profits in Q3

Zurich Insurance registered a net income of $912 million in the third quarter compared to $207 million in the same period of 2015.

Zurich’s underlying results improved in the third quarter driven by a combination of growth in Global Life and Farmers, as well as underlying improvement in General insurance, according to the company. Expenses on an absolute basis have continued to fall reflecting actions taken earlier in the year, and are on track to achieve expected reduction of $300 million in 2016.

Zurich's gross written premium (GWP) for general insurance declined by 7 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2016.

Zurich said the reduction is in line with expectations and is driven by the ongoing focus on profitability against the backdrop of a competitive market.

Zurich Global Corporate's GWP was also down 11 percent year-on-year in Q3, reflecting the group's focus on actions to improve performance together with lower new business volumes.

Commenting on the past nine months of 2016, group CFO George Quinn said: “Zurich has maintained its positive momentum with underlying improvement in all of our core businesses.

“The strengthening of Zurich’s management team and simplification of the Group organizational structure have been completed, while absolute costs have continued to fall reflecting actions taken earlier in the year. We are also strongly capitalized, with solvency well within our target range.”

In the first nine months Zurich registered an attributable net income of $2.53 billion, up 11 percent year-on-year. The combined ratio improved to 98.4 percent from 101.9 percent over the period.