Combined ratio drops 0.1 points, P&C net income up 10.4% in 2014 for Swiss Re

Swiss Re reported essentially no change in its combined ratio and a 7.6% increase in property and casualty premiums earned, in 2014 compared to 2013, while Q4 consolidated group net income dropped 79.8% year over year, the company reported Thursday.

For the full year, Swiss Re reported net income was $3.56 billion in 2014, up 10.4% from $3.23 billion in 2013. All figures are in United States dollars. Also for the full year, the combined ratio improved by a tenth of a point, from 83.8% in 2013 to 83.7% in 2014.

The company attributed its improvement, in net income for the full year, to “a strong underwriting result driven by benign natural catastrophe experience and prior-year net reserve releases.”

For the three months ending Dec. 31, 2014, Swiss Re reported P&C premiums earned of $3.92 billion, up 0.8% from $3.89 billion in Q4 2013. The Q4 combined ratio deteriorated 2.3 points, from 84.4% in 2013 to 86.7% last year.

Q4 net income, in P&C, increased 19.2%, from $989 million in 2014 to $1.18 billion in 201, “reflecting realized gains from listed equities and alternative investments, partially offset by a weaker underwriting result and lower net tax benefit.”

For the consolidated group, – which includes property & casualty, life and health (L&H), corporate solutions and Admin Re – net income was $245 million in the most recent quarter, down 79.8% from $1.21 billion in 2013.

“This reflects the impact of management actions and the unwinding of an asset funding structure supporting a longevity transaction in L&H Re,” Swiss Re reported.

Also for the consolidated group, Swiss Re premiums and earned and fee income of $7.84 billion in the most recent quarter, up 0.9% from $7.77 billion in the Q4 2013.

For the full year, Swiss Re reported consolidated group premiums and earned and fee income of $31.3 billion last year, up 8.7% from $28.8 billion in 2013.

In P&C, Swiss Re reported premiums earned of $15.6 billion for all of 2014, up 7.6% from $14.5 billion in 2013, “mainly driven by the expiry of a quota share agreement in 2012 and large, bespoke transactions in Asia and the Americas.”