Zurich UK loses $400m GWP and profits down 13%

Global insurance group Zurich’s UK general insurance division made a business operating profit of $200m for the full year of 2010, down 13% on the $229m it made in 2009.

Zurich’s UK general insurance gross written premiums fell 12% to $2.8bn in 2010 from $3.2bn in 2009.

However, the division’s underwriting performance improved in a year when it hiked up private motor rates around 20%.

It made a net underwriting profit of $9m in 2010 compared with a net underwriting loss of 2m the previous year. Zurich’s UK general insurance combined ratio improved to a profitable 99.7% from an almost breakeven 100.1%.

Globally, Zurich’s general insurance business’s operating profit fell 23% to $2.7bn from $3.5bn. The global combined ratio deteriorated by 1.1 points to 97.9% from 96.8%.

The company attributed the profitability slump to an above-average frequency of loss events, such as earthquakes and weather-related losses, as well as lower investment income.

Zurich puts its pre-tax losses from the Chilean earthquake at $175m and from Australian flooding at $100m.

Global general insurance premiums fell 3% to $33.1bn from $34.2bn.