Andreas Berger, Group CEO of Swiss Re, said: “Swiss Re’s performance in the first half of 2024 reflects our focus on delivering consistent results. We continue to increase the overall resilience of the firm through a disciplined approach to underwriting new business while remaining on top of loss trends across our in-force portfolios.”
John Dacey, Group CFO, added: “These results highlight our focus on capital allocation discipline and quality across our underwriting and investment portfolios. Additionally, higher interest rates continue to benefit our investment income.”
Swiss Re’s strong performance follows disciplined underwriting and strong investment income. The main catalysts for the strong performance were disciplined underwriting and low natural catastrophe claims.
Insurance revenue for the Group amounted to $22.5 billion. The insurance service result, which reflects the profitability of the underwriting activity, was $2.9 billion. Swiss Re achieved a strong ROI of 4.0%, powered by contributions from recurring income. The recurring income yield for H1 2024 was strong, while the reinvestment yield for the second quarter stood at 4.8%, continuing to benefit from higher interest rates.
P&C Re reported a net income of $989 million in the first half of 2024. This was primarily driven by disciplined underwriting, low large natural catastrophe experience, and strong investment income. The insurance revenue for the first half of 2024 was $9.8 billion.
P&C Re achieved an insurance service result of $1.4 billion and a combined ratio of 84.5%, despite the additions to reserves and the uncertainty load introduced on all lines since the beginning of this year. P&C Re targets a combined ratio below 87% for the full year.
P&C Re also renewed contracts with $4.5 billion in treaty premium volume on 1 July 2024. This marks a 7% increase compared with the business that was up for renewal. Overall, P&C Re achieved a price increase of 8% in this renewal round. Based on a continued prudent view on inflation and updated loss models, loss assumptions increased by 10%. The resulting portfolio quality is consistent with the Group’s 2024 financial targets.
L&H Re reported a net income of $883 million in H1 2024, driven by positive US mortality experience and higher investment income, partially offset by challenges in EMEA. Insurance revenue was $8.7 billion, with an insurance service result of $1.0 billion. Corporate Solutions achieved a net income of $435 million, benefiting from strong underlying performance, benign claims, and a 3% increase in nominal rates. The combined ratio was 88.7%. Meanwhile, iptiQ recorded a net loss of $182 million due to one-off impairments related to its planned business withdrawal.
Andreas Berger, Swiss Re, Group CEO, added: “After a strong start in the first half of this year, we maintain our 2024 targets, including Group net income of more than $3.6 billion. Amid a challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, we continue to focus on disciplined underwriting to maintain and where possible improve the resilience of our portfolios to enable delivery of consistent results.”
