Swiss Life strongly expanded its business in the first nine months, not least in its home market. Fees also constitute an ever a larger part of its income.
Switzerland’s largest life insurer had premiums of 18 billion francs ($18.1 billion) in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 25 percent compared with the year-earlier period in local currencies, Swiss Life said in a statement on Wednesday.
In the company's home market, premiums reached 11.6 billion francs, up from 7.8 billion a year ago. The increase in group life business was primarily due to the withdrawal of a competitor from the full insurance business in the previous year, Swiss Life said.
Fees Rise Across All Markets
Swiss Life had fee income of 1.3 billion francs in the first three quarters, up 17 percent year-on-year in local currencies. The fee income increased in all of the company’s market units, Swiss Life said.
Swiss Life Asset Managers had net new assets of 6.5 billion francs (compared with 5.2 billion a year ago). Assets under management rose to 79.8 billion, 12 percent up from the end of 2018. The asset managers had fee income of 574 million francs in the first three quarters of the year, a quarter more than a year ago.
Flat Investment Income
The Zurich-based company generated direct investment income of 3.3 billion francs, with a non-annualized net investment yield of 1.9 percent (previous year at 2.2 percent).
