For the first half of 2026, large insurer Zurich has reported accelerated growth across all areas, with momentum propelled by specialty, middle market, life and farmers, where demand is being driven by technology advancements, construction, evolving protection needs and shifting market dynamics.
To comply with this growing demand, Zurich has entered into a new data centre construction quota share reinsurance arrangement, providing up to USD 1 billion of risk capacity to support the growth of its global data centre portfolio.
Zurich’s 2026 renewals so far included three new quota share arrangements in Data Center Construction, Energy Onshore, and Corporate Liability, increasing capacity in selected growth areas and supporting portfolio diversification.
Taking a look at the results for H1’26, Zurich has generated an overall all-time high business operating profit (BOP), which rose by 13% to USD 4.8 billion. This was driven by its property and casualty (P&C) segment, which reported 12% growth on a like-for-like basis in BOP to USD 2.8 billion.
The P&C segment’s gross written premiums (GWP) rose by 7% to USD 29.9 billion, with a combined ratio of 92.7%. Insurance revenue grew by 6% on a like-for-like basis to USD 24.9 billion. During the period, overall P&C rates are up 1%, with retail rates up 4%, partly offset by a 1% decline in commercial rates.
Natural catastrophe losses accounted for 1.9 percentage points of the combined ratio, while favourable prior-year reserve development added 2.4 percentage points, benefiting from favourable development in recent short-tail accident years.
Meanwhile, commercial insurance BOP was up 12% to USD 2 billion, and GWP rose 6% to USD 18.3 billion, with a solid combined ratio of 91.2%. As mentioned earlier, growth was driven by global specialty and middle market. For the segment, overall pricing declined 1%, driven by continued pressure in property. Nat cat losses accounted for 1.8 percentage points, which is 0.5 percentage points lower than in the prior year.
For global specialty, premiums increased 8% to USD 5.5 billion, mainly driven by construction as growing AI demand continues to boost the need for data centre infrastructure. The segment delivered strong growth of 18% globally at attractive margins. Zurich also expanded its ‘Data Center Project Guard,’ a dedicated insurance and risk management solution for large-scale data centre projects, into Europe and Latin America.
Additionally, US Commercial premiums increased 5%, led by crop and captive business, partly offset by lower volumes in large property and US Programs. International commercial GWP increased 7%, with growth led by Canada, Australia and Germany. The middle market customer segment grew 7% to USD 4.4 billion, with contributions from all regions.
Zurich said that commercial insurance rates remained broadly stable, with sustained attractive margins following significant cumulative rate increases in recent years. However, property rates remain under pressure this year, particularly in large accounts in North America and the UK, with healthy margins. Further, casualty lines continued to report positive rate change, driven by continuing claims trends. In cyber, Zurich notes that rate reductions moderated after several quarters of decline, with early signs of stabilisation as AI-related developments increase risk awareness.
Retail BOP grew 14% to USD 825 million, and GWP rose 8% to USD 11.5 billion, supported by average rate increases of 4%. Growth was driven by enhanced customer loyalty, strong performance in Motor and SME segments and continuous investing in pricing capabilities and portfolio optimisation, leading to improved profitability as reflected in the combined ratio of 94%.
In its Life segment, Zurich reported a relatively stable GWP growth to USD 19.5 billion, as protection premiums grew double digits to USD 5.9 billion. This drove growth in BOP of 23% to USD 1.3 billion for the first time and is expected to grow by at least 10% in 2026.
In the Farmers segment, BOP rose by 2% to USD 1.2 billion, driven by record fee income at Farmers Management Services resulting from continued profitable premium growth. Farmers Exchanges’ reported GWP growth of 4% to USD 15.6 billion, with a combined ratio of 82.4%.
Mario Greco, Group Chief Executive Officer, Zurich, commented, “Our growth is accelerating in business segments where we see the strongest demand and attractive margins, such as Specialty, Middle Market, SMEs and Life. Our ability to select growth opportunities within our portfolios ensures we can sustain this performance over time. At the midpoint of our current cycle, we are ahead of all our targets.”
