The Swiss insurer benefits from growth in commercial and retail business and announces additional share buybacks.

Zurich Insurance managed to report further growth in the first nine months of the year in its property and casualty business (P&C) and life segment, an announcement sent to the media on Thursday indicated.

Gross written premiums in L&C increased 8 percent at $34.6 billion dollars compared with the same period a year earlier. On a like-for-like basis and adjusted for foreign exchange fluctuations, they rose 9 percent.

New business premiums for the life business were up 21 percent from a year earlier at $12.17 billion dollars, with growth seen in the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific, and Latin America regions.

Improvement at Farmers 

Farmers Exchanges, which is owned by policyholders, saw a 2 percent increase in gross written premiums, which were at 20.6 billion. Its combined ratio was at 91.0 percent in the third quarter at the same time that the business reported a sequential improvement in underwriting results. Farmers Management Services (FMS) fee income was up 2 percent in the nine-month period as well.

Zurich indicated it agreed to buy three brokerage entities and the flood program servicing arm belonging to Farmers Exchanges for $760 million.

«We maintained momentum in the third quarter, delivering continued top-line growth following a very strong first half of the year and a great start to the new financial cycle. This makes us confident that we’ll be able to finish the year strongly and achieve our financial targets for 2023–2025», group chief financial officer George Quinn indicated in the announcement

Strong Capital Position

Zurich indicated in its announcement its capital position remained «very strong». It estimated its Swiss solvency test ratio at 266 percent at the end of September, above end-June's 263 percent, and «well in excess» of its target of 160 percent.  Zurich also indicated that it expects to supplement its dividend with an additional share buyback.

It is the first time that Zurich has released nine-month results under IFRS 17 rules.