The activities of the German insurance giant Allianz in Switzerland are going well. One area in particular stands out in the half-year.
The Allianz Suisse Group generated a profit of 146 million Swiss francs in the first six months of the current fiscal year on a constant business volume of around 2.7 billion Swiss francs. This represents an increase of 1.9 percent compared with the same period last year, the Group announced on Wednesday.
The Group’s operating profit even increased by around 20 percent to 193 million Swiss francs.
Top value for a decade
The property insurance segment performed particularly well, as lower claims were incurred and premium volume remained constant due to strong demand from corporate and legal protection insurance. The combined ratio, a measure of a company’s underwriting profitability, improved by 4.3 percentage points to a strong 89.3 percent.
When asked by muula.ch, the Group stated that this was the best combined ratio in a single semester for at least the past ten years. So the Germans are getting better and better at concentrating on profitable business in Switzerland. Swiss top dogs are hardly much better in this respect.
Three quarters from one line
The lower claims burden is also reflected in the operating result, which rose by 41.8 percent to 144.9 million Swiss francs.
The half-year profit in the property division, i.e. the amount below the line, increased by around ten percent to 106.8 million Swiss francs. This is lower than the operating profit because extraordinary write-downs on securities in the wake of the Ukraine conflict had a negative impact.
In general, however, the results show that Allianz in Switzerland generates about 75 percent of its operating and consolidated profit via property insurance.
Less transparency
In life insurance, premiums in the group insurance segment declined slightly. The Group continued to collect approximately 1 billion Swiss francs in the first six months. Life operating profit decreased by 16.5 percent to 47.9 million Swiss francs, partly due to business ceded as part of a reinsurance solution. Net income for the half year decreased by 16 percent to 39.2 million Swiss francs.
As the exact form of the new reinsurance is not publicly known, comparisons with previous years are now difficult.
Declining equity
When asked by muula.ch about the development of equity, a media spokesperson explained that there were no consolidated subgroup financial statements. However, the value in their property insurance company had dropped by around 42 percent to 702.8 million Swiss francs.
In the life company, equity was down about 16 percent to 796 million Swiss francs, according to the statement. So, apparently, not all is gold.
However, the ratio in the Swiss Solvency Test is supported in the life segment by the new reinsurance solution, the statement added. It is in the very solid range of 200 percent. In the non-life segment, on the other hand, the solvency ratio as of January 2022 would even be slightly above 300 percent.
08/31/2022/kut./ena.