The reinsurer posted a profit in the second quarter after a challenging start to the year and is already noticing the positive impact from interest rates.
Swiss Re posted a profit of $405 million for the second quarter of 2022, driven by life & health reinsurance and corporate solutions, as well as by robust underwriting performance in property & casualty reinsurance, it said in its earnings statement Friday.
The results mark a shift from a challenging first year impacted by the financial market downturn COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Net income for the first half of the year is at $157 million and ROE was 1.6 percent. This compares with a net income of $1billion and an ROE of 8.2 percent for the same period in 2021. The decline was driven mainly by significantly lower investment results as well as first-quarter reserves for the Ukraine war.
Rising Interest Rates
Targeted reinvestments in the rising interest rate environment, help lift Swiss Re's recurring income yield to 2.3 percent in the first half of 2022 from 2.2 percent for the full year 2021.
On inflationary trends, Group chief financial officer John Dacey said: «we remain vigilant and are taking appropriate actions, including increasing the pricing of new business and the related initial loss expectations.»
Outlook
With regard to the remaining year and further outlook CEO Christian Mumenthaler said: «The achievement of the group targets is highly dependent on the performance of financial markets and large-loss experience in the second half of 2022.»
