Zurich Insurance P&C premiums rise, helped by higher customer rates

By Carolyn Cohn and Kirsti Knolle BERLIN/LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Zurich Insurance Group (ZURN.S) said on Thursday that premiums at its property and casualty business rose 9% in the first quarter, as rates charged to customers continue to rise. Insurers have had a bumper couple of years after raising rates and excluding riskier business, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, wars and natural catastrophes. Gross written premiums in Zurich’s P&C business rose to $12.623 billion from $11.967 billion a year earlier. Commercial P&C insurance rates rose 5%, with overall rate rises of 8% in North America. However, reinsurance rates have been “gently coming down” this year, CEO Mario Greco said on a media call. Reinsurers insure the insurers, and the rates they charge tend to feed into insurance premiums. Zurich’s life insurance new business premiums fell 1%. Greco said Europe’s fifth largest insurer was “not in a rush” to sell its portfolio of German life insurance policies which are closed to new customers, and could decide to reinsure, rather than sell the business. Its plans to sell the $20 billion back book to Viridium Holding fell through earlier this year. Greco also said Zurich had “no material” exposure to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March, which analysts expect to result in up to $3 billion in insured losses. Allianz (ALVG.DE) said this week that it expected to see claims in the low double digit million euros from the disaster. Zurich posted a Swiss solvency test ratio of 232%, below forecasts of 240%, according to a company-compiled poll of analysts. The insurer said it would start a previously announced share buyback of up to 1.1 billion Swiss francs ($1.22 billion) in the next few weeks. Zurich’s shares were up 2.1% in pre-market trade.