Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) said today (16 May) it had delivered “a strong performance in the first three months of 2024, continuing to profitably grow the top line and maintaining the positive momentum built on the record results achieved in 2023”.
In life, the Group “continued to grow top-line and new business in its preferred lines of business”, the statement said.
Short-term insurance contracts, which are predominantly related to the Latin America protection business, generated $680m of insurance revenue in the first quarter, up 11% year on year on a like-for-like basis.
Investment contracts, which are mainly written in EMEA, generated $173m of fee revenue in the first quarter, up 12% year on year on a like-for-like basis, driven by higher assets under management.
In the first quarter, new business premiums (PVNBP) for long-term insurance contracts amounted to $4.0bn, 1% less than in the prior year on a like-for-like basis.
The reduction reflects the exceptional sales volumes of retail savings in Spain in the prior year period. The Group’s preferred lines, protection and unit-linked, continued to see strong growth in the first quarter, with new business premiums up 21% and 16% respectively on a like-for-like basis.
In EMEA, new business premiums were 15% below the prior year period on a like-for-like basis. Higher sales of protection products in the UK and Switzerland, as well as unit-linked products in Germany, were more than offset by the previously mentioned reduction of retail savings sales in Spain.
In North America, new business premiums grew 10% on a like-for-like basis, driven by corporate and individual
savings.
In Asia Pacific, new business premiums grew 29% on a like-for-like basis benefiting from continued growth of protection sales in Japan and corporate business in Australia.
In Latin America, new business premiums increased 18% on a like-for-like basis. Excluding Argentina, which was impacted by inflation and currency depreciation, new business premiums went up by 6% on a like-for-like basis benefitting from higher unit-linked sales.
New business margin stood at 6.6% in the first quarter, 0.2 percentage points higher than in the prior year period, benefitting from a more favourable business mix. As a result, new business written in the first quarter added $264m to the contractual service margin (CSM), in line with the prior year.
Elsewhere in the group, Farmers Management Services (FMS) achieves 6% growth in underlying fee income, well above the
average annual growth rate of the last 10 years. Farmers Exchanges surplus ratio is at 36.2% following
outstanding combined ratio supported by expense improvements.
Zurich also pointed to a strong capital position with Swiss Solvency Test (SST) ratio estimated at 232%4 as of March 31, 2024.
