Gross written premiums up, profits down at Desjardins General Insurance

Desjardins General Insurance Group released Friday financial data for the third quarter, reporting net income of $22.8 million on gross written premiums of $517 million. 

Gross written premiums for the third quarter were up 9.1% from the same period in 2011, Levis, Que.-based Desjardins General stated in a press release, while gross written premiums for the first nine months of 2012 were $1.522 billion, up 9% from the same period in 2011. 

“Despite severe wind and hail storms in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, the loss ratio for the third quarter fell to 78.2%, a drop of 4.7 percentage points from the third quarter of 2011,” Desjardins General stated. “This helped drive the combined ratio (loss ratio plus expense ratio) down 5.6 percentage points to 101.1% for the quarter. For the first nine months of the year, the loss ratio dropped 4.3 percentage points to 71.1%, while the combined ratio dropped 4.7 percentage points to 95.3%.”

The Q3 net income of $22.8 million was down from $28.6 million during the same period in 2011, largely due to a drop in third-quarter investment income, from $64.6 million in 2011 to $37.9 million this year.

Desjardins General Insurance is the property & casualty subsidiary of Desjardins Group, which also includes a bank, credit union, securities brokerage, property management firm and life and health insurance unit.

Desjardins General has more than two million P&C policies in force, in home and auto insurance across Canada. It also provides commercial insurance in Quebec.