Zurich’s top-line for the first three quarters shows good growth
- Property & Casualty (P&C) gross written premiums up 1% on a like-for-like basis, with improved new business and customer retention
- Life APE sales up 1% on a like-for-like basis, with 17% growth in new business value reflecting continued focus on higher margin unit-linked and protection products
- Continued top-line growth at Farmers Exchanges1, with premiums from continuing operations up 3% and a stable surplus ratio of 37.7%
- Strong capital position with Z-ECM estimated at 136%2
New business volumes and customer retention in Property & Casualty and Life are both up, while the Farmers Exchanges1 continue to deliver consistent growth. The Group is strongly capitalized and has continued to make progress against its strategic targets.
“I am pleased with the development of our businesses in the year to date, particularly against a challenging industry backdrop in the third quarter. We expect the third quarter natural catastrophe events to drive improvements in pricing across our business,” said Group Chief Financial Officer George Quinn. “New business volumes and customer retention in Property & Casualty and Life are both up, while the Farmers Exchanges1 continue to deliver consistent growth. The Group is strongly capitalized and has continued to make progress against its strategic targets.”
Key figures
| in USD millions, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, unless otherwise stated | 2017 | 2016 | Change3 in USD | Change4 like-for-like |
| P&C gross written premium (GWP) | 25,345 | 25,749 | (2%) | 1% |
| Life annual premium equivalent (APE) | 3,474 | 3,470 | 0% | 1% |
| Farmers Exchanges GWP1 | 15,176 | 15,008 | 1% | n.a. |
| Farmers Life APE | 67 | 70 | (4%) | n.a. |
| Z-ECM2 | 136% | 125%2 | 11ppts | n.a. |
Commentary
Property & Casualty
| Gross written premium (GWP) | Rate change, in % | |||||
| in USD millions, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, unless otherwise stated | 2017 | 2016 | Change3 in USD | Change4 like-for-like | 2017 | Development |
| Property & Casualty | 25,345 | 25,749 | (2%) | 1% | 1% | Slightly decreasing |
| EMEA | 10,974 | 11,771 | (7%) | (2%) | 2% | Stable |
| North America | 11,599 | 11,584 | 0% | 0% | 0% | Slightly decreasing |
| APAC | 1,752 | 1,675 | 5% | 8% | 1% | Increasing |
| Latin America | 1,958 | 1,761 | 11% | 12% | 1% | Increasing |
Gross written premiums in Property & Casualty (P&C) for the first nine months of 2017 rose 1% in local currency after adjusting for acquisitions and disposals and declined 2% in U.S. dollar terms. This reflects improved levels of retention and new business. Rates overall increased by around 1%, mainly driven by Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA).
In EMEA, excluding the disposals of South Africa, Morocco and the Middle East, gross written premiums declined by 2%, due to reductions in Germany, the UK and Spain. Gross written premiums for North America were flat compared to the prior year period, with growth in higher margin lines offsetting declines in large commercial. In Asia Pacific, gross written premiums were up 8% in local currency, reflecting the incremental premium from underwriting the Cover-More travel business in Australia, while gross written premiums for Latin America increased by 12% in local currency, mainly driven by the retail business in Brazil and Mexico.
As mentioned in the Group’s news release of October 19, 2017, aggregate claims in the third quarter of 2017 related to hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, for the Group’s Property & Casualty business, are estimated to be approximately USD 700 million net of reinsurance and before tax. As indicated at the time of the release, these events will result in estimated net-of-tax losses of USD 620 million with a consequent negative impact on the Group’s effective tax rate for the year. There were a number of other natural-catastrophe and weather-related events during the third quarter including the Mexican earthquakes, and severe storms and floods in EMEA and Asia.
The Group continued to focus on improving technical performance and efficiency during the third quarter. Additional effort will be required to achieve the Group’s underwriting goals, while progress on efficiency has been achieved through a further reduction in other underwriting expenses.
Life
| Annual premium equivalent (APE) | New business value (NBV) | |||||||
| in USD millions, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, unless otherwise stated | 2017 | 2016 | Change3 in USD | Change4 like-for-like | 2017 | 2016 | Change3 in USD | Change4 like-for-like |
| Life | 3,474 | 3,470 | 0% | 1% | 706 | 618 | 14% | 17% |
| EMEA | 2,464 | 2,353 | 5% | 10% | 449 | 442 | 2% | 5% |
| North America | 40 | 49 | (19%) | (19%) | 17 | 22 | (21%) | (21%) |
| APAC | 134 | 111 | 21% | 10% | 118 | 63 | 86% | nm |
| Latin America | 836 | 956 | (13%) | (19%) | 122 | 91 | 34% | 26% |
Life new business APE volumes increased by 1% in local currency compared with the prior year after adjusting for acquisitions, and were flat in U.S. dollar terms. This was primarily driven by strong sales in the UK, Ireland and Switzerland. On a reported basis, volumes in Asia Pacific increased as a result of underlying growth and the inclusion of the acquisitions in Malaysia and Australia. In Latin America, continued growth in Brazil and in individual protection business at Zurich Santander was offset by lower sales of corporate protection in Chile.
New business value increased 17% year-on-year in local currency and adjusting for recent acquisitions, with higher values in most regions. This was largely due to strong volume growth of protection products in Brazil, improved business mix in Spain and Italy, favorable assumption updates in Asia Pacific and beneficial yield movements across Europe, Brazil and Japan.
As a result the overall new business margin increased by 2.4 percentage points to 23.2%.
Farmers
| in USD millions, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, unless otherwise stated | 2017 | 2016 | Change3 in USD |
| Farmers Exchanges1 | |||
| Gross written premium (GWP) | 15,176 | 15,008 | 1% |
| Surplus ratio | 37.7% | 37.0% | 0.7ppt |
The Farmers Exchanges1, which are owned by their policyholders, continue to deliver top-line growth. In the first nine months of 2017, gross written premiums from continuing operations5 were up 3%, with growth across most books of business. As in the first half of the year, this was partially offset by the run-off of discontinued operations5. Rate and underwriting actions taken to improve profitability in Auto have continued to benefit the combined ratio ex-natural catastrophes. The third quarter saw a stabilization in retention and a slowing of recent declines in new business, which is expected to continue over the next few quarters.
In a quarter characterized by severe natural catastrophe losses for the industry, the Farmers Exchanges1 maintained a strong capitalization with a surplus ratio at the end of September 2017 of 37.7%, 0.6 percentage points higher than at the end of the previous quarter.
| in USD millions, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, unless otherwise stated | 2017 | 2016 | Change3 in USD |
| Farmers | |||
| Farmers Management Services management fees and other related revenues | 2,165 | 2,144 | 1% |
| Farmers Life annual premium equivalent (APE) | 67 | 70 | (4%) |
| Farmers Life new business value (NBV) | 71 | 66 | 8% |
As a result of the growth at the Farmers Exchanges1, management fees for Farmers Management Services increased by 1% over the prior year period. Farmers Life new business APE was down 4% year-on-year, while new business value increased 8%, driven by a favorable sales mix and lower acquisition expenses as well as improved assumptions around mortality and persistency.
Capital position
As of September 30, 2017 the Z-ECM ratio is estimated at 136%2 as a result of positive financial markets and favorable development in Group pension liabilities.
Other
The Group expects overall restructuring costs for the full year to be no more than the USD 500 million previously indicated. It is expected that around USD 150 million of these will be taken as one-off charges in the business operating profit, with the balance taken below the operating line. The P&C share within the business operating profit will be part of the non-technical result.
1 Zurich Insurance Group has no ownership interest in the Farmers Exchanges. Farmers Group, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Group, provides administrative and management services to the Farmers Exchanges as its attorney-in-fact and receives fees for its services.
2 Ratios as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively. Ratio for September 30, 2017 reflects midpoint estimate with an error margin of +/- 5 pts.
3 Parentheses around numbers represent an adverse variance.
4 Percentages represent the change in local currencies and are adjusted for acquisitions and disposals.
5 Discontinued operations include 21st Century business outside of California and Hawaii and other discontinued operations.
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Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 54,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories. Zurich’s customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information about Zurich is available at www.zurich.com.
Disclaimer and cautionary statement
Certain statements in this document are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans or objectives of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd or the Zurich Insurance Group (the Group). Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the Group’s targeted profit, return on equity targets, expenses, pricing conditions, dividend policy and underwriting and claims results, as well as statements regarding the Group’s understanding of general economic, financial and insurance market conditions and expected developments. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and can be affected by other factors that could cause actual results and plans and objectives of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd or the Group to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements (or from past results). Factors such as (i) general economic conditions and competitive factors, particularly in key markets; (ii) the risk of a global economic downturn, in the financial services industries in particular; (iii) performance of financial markets; (iv) levels of interest rates and currency exchange rates; (v) frequency, severity and development of insured claims events; (vi) mortality and morbidity experience; (vii) policy renewal and lapse rates; and (viii) changes in laws and regulations and in the policies of regulators may have a direct bearing on the results of operations of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd and its Group and on whether the targets will be achieved. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise.
All references to “Farmers Exchanges” mean Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange, Truck Insurance Exchange and their subsidiaries and affiliates. The three Exchanges are California domiciled inter-insurance exchanges owned by their policyholders with governance oversight by their Boards of Governors. Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries are appointed as the attorneys-in-fact for the Farmers Exchanges and in that capacity provide certain non-claims administrative and management services to the Farmers Exchanges. Neither Farmers Group, Inc., nor its parent companies, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd and Zurich Insurance Group Ltd, have any ownership interest in the Farmers Exchanges. Financial information about the Farmers Exchanges is proprietary to the Farmers Exchanges, but is provided to support an understanding of the performance of Farmers Group, Inc. and Farmers Reinsurance Company.
It should be noted that past performance is not a guide to future performance. Please also note that interim results are not necessarily indicative of full year results.
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