Aviva claims GI recovery

Aviva today announced Q1 results claiming “general insurance and health sales returned to growth with net written premiums up 16% at £2.5m” but that was compared with Q4 2009. Net written premiums fell 1% compared with the same time last year.

Aviva said it would “reap the benefits of the initiatives that we put in place such as the reshaping of our UK portfolio and our strategy of increasing our general insurance sales through Aviva's European existing bancassurance relationships.”

Net written premiums £m (2009 Q1 in brackets)

• UK GI 913 996
• Aviva Europe 597 610
• Delta Lloyd 367 353
• North America 397 360
• Other 191 148
• Total 2,465 2,467

Q1 claims were hit by adverse weather in the UK and Europe, but these were partly offset by better than expected claims levels in Canada. But is said its target combined ratio for the year was 98%.

United Kingdom

Aviva said: “We are seeing signs of a return to volume growth in 2010, reflecting the impact of our marketing initiatives, including our "Get the Aviva Deal" marketing campaign, rolling out direct pricing to insurance brokers and the success of the RAC panel.

“As expected, following the actions we took last year to reshape our UK portfolio, we are seeing good levels of retention in both personal and commercial lines business. There is also clear evidence that the personal motor market is starting to harden.

“The decline in net written premiums stopped in the first quarter, with premiums of £913m. This represents a 4% increase over the last quarter of 2009 (4Q09: £880m) and is a potential sign of a return to growth.

Aviva Europe

“In the first quarter of 2010 sales increased by 33% to £597m (4Q09: £448m), broadly in line with the equivalent period last year (1Q09: £610m).

“One of our key strategic aims is to increase general insurance sales through our leading bancassurance capability and this quarter we have had some early success with strong sales growth in Italy.

“We are also now piloting our pan-European product centre in Ireland. Together with our claims transformation project this initiative will increase our ability to write business more profitably.”

North America

“Our Canadian business applied targeted rate increases and focused on business initiatives to improve our operational and underwriting effectiveness.

At £397m, sales in the first quarter of 2010 were lower than the previous quarter (4Q09: £449m), in keeping with established seasonal trends, but were 10% higher compared to the same period a year ago on a sterling basis (1Q09: £360m) and level on a local currency basis. This is a good result in a highly competitive market.

Asia Pacific

“On 9 April we re-entered the general insurance market in Singapore with the launch of the first, dedicated, direct online car insurance website.

“This builds upon our existing brand presence in Singapore and presents an attractive proposition for customers in the current market. Aviva's investment in this initiative was in the region of £5m.