Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS) has announced that its insurance division, Direct Line, has generated a 30% increased in premium income during the first half of 2003.
Direct Line's performance enabled it to increase its profits contribution to RBOS - up 32% to £202m in the first half of the year. The RBOS group posted a 25% surge in pre-tax profits to £2.9bn.
The personal lines giant's performance was aided by the additional 193,000 motor policies written in the period, while the number of UK home insurance policies increased by 60,000. The number of international in-force motor policies increased by 171,000 in the same period.
Direct Line's combined ratio - a measure of its underwriting performance - dropped slightly to 89.5% from 89.1%.
The relatively benign weather in the first half of the year helped keep reduce claims to £836m.
RBøS also confirmed that the Churchill takeover, "is still subject to FSA approval, [and] is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2003".
RBOS group chairman Sir George Mathewson said: "These are strong results, the more so for having been delivered against a backdrop of a lower growth environment in the markets in which we operate".
