Zurich Insurance Profit Climbs 78% After Catastrophe Claims Drop - Bloomberg

By Carolyn Bandel -

Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN), Switzerland's biggest insurer, said first-quarter profit climbed 78 percent after claims from natural catastrophes declined from record levels last year.

Net income rose to $1.14 billion from $640 million in the year-earlier period, the Zurich-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. That beat the $1.06 billion average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Zurich Insurance, which saw insured losses almost quadruple to $1 billion last year after earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand and floods in Thailand, hopes growth in emerging markets will help the firm attain a business operating profit after-tax return on equity of 16 percent over the long term. It bought 51 percent of Banco Santander SA (SAN)'s Latin America insurance business and Malaysian Assurance Alliance Bhd. last year.

"The execution of our strategy continues to be on track," Chief Executive Officer Martin Senn said in the statement. "Our acquisitions and alliances have allowed us to deepen our position in several key markets."

Operating profit from general insurance more than tripled to $856 million after the company didn't repeat the $517 million in claims it reported for the five natural disasters in Australia, New Zealand and Japan in the first three months of 2011.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carolyn Bandel in Zurich at cbandel@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net