Household insurer’s COR improves to 82%

PPI complaints surge

Legal & General’s general insurance business made an operating profit of £38m in the first half of 2015, up 35.7% on the £28m it made in the same period last year.

The division’s combined operating ratio improved by six percentage points to 82% (H1 2014 88%) amid a lack of weather claims.

The general insurance units cash generation also increased by 36.4% to £30m (H1 2014: £22m).

The improvement comes despite a 7.9% fall in general insurance gross written premium (GWP) to £164m (H1 2014: £178m). L&G said this was caused by the company maintaining pricing discipline.

Despite the overall drop, L&G grew its direct household GWP by 14.6% to £47m (H1 2104: £41m).

The direct household business now accounts for 29% of total general insurance gross premiums (H1 2014: 23%).