In its H1 2023 results, Swiss insurer Helvetia boasted that it once again achieved profitable growth, seeing its business volume increase by 6% to CHF 6,687.0 million.
According to the firm, the expansion was driven by strong growth in non-life insurance, with a significant currency-adjusted boost in all segments across the board in its various business lines.
“The non-life business generated strong growth, boosting business volume by 13.2% to CHF 4,200.3 million in total,” the firm explained.
It continued, “Growth in Helvetia’s three largest country markets – Switzerland (10.0% at constant exchange rates), Spain and Germany – as well as Austria was above the market average (overall Europe growth segment: 7.6% at constant exchange rates).”
Helvetia noted it was therefore able to further expand market share in its profitable core business.
The insurer continued, “The volume in the non-life business of the Specialty Markets segment also experienced very good growth (+30.5% at constant exchange rates), primarily due to additional new business.
“Furthermore, favourable price effects supported growth in this segment, contributing approximately one-third.”
Meanwhile, the firm’s Life insurance business volume amounted to CHF 2,486.7 million.
“Helvetia’s strategy remains focused on investment-linked business and pure risk products. This led to growth in business volume with deposits received from investment contracts in the individual life business and with the reinsurance of biometric risks assumed in the active reinsurance business,” the firm said.
Helvetia’s combined ratio in H1 was 94%, up slightly compared to H1 of 2022’s 92.8%. The insurer noted that the combined ratio proved solid in view of an above-average frequency of medium-sized claims, a few large claims in the Europe segment and the persistently inflationary environment.
Helvetia’s IFRS result after tax increased by almost 35% to CHF 257.8 million. Alongside a solid technical development, the firm said the better performance of the financial markets further boosted the result.
Philipp Gmür, Group CEO of Helvetia, commented, “The first half of 2023 was marked by stability because we were broadly diversified and able to seize profitable growth opportunities, thus achieving remarkable growth and significantly higher profits compared to the same period in the previous year.
“This was based on the solid technical results we achieved in our core business. At the same time, we successfully established ourselves in new business fields. This means we once again created value for our shareholders in the first half of 2023.”
