Zurich’s P&C segment delivers record profit of $2.4bn for H1’25

Large insurer Zurich achieved a 6% year-on-year rise in Group business operating profit (BOP) to a record $4.2 billion for the first six months of 2025, with property and casualty (P&C) BOP rising 9% to an all-time high of $2.4 billion.

Group-wide, net income increased by 1% to $3.1 billion for H1’25, supported by a strong performance in P&C and Zurich’s Life and Farmers businesses.

Starting with P&C, alongside the aforementioned rise in BOP year-on-year, which Zurich attributes to higher insurance revenue and a stronger technical result, gross written premium and policy fees increased by 7% or 5% on a like-for-like basis to $27.1 billion, with all geographies contributing positively towards top-line growth. The Group achieved price increases of 3% in the first half of the year.

The P&C combined ratio strengthened by 1.2 percentage points to 92.4% in H1’25, driven by a strong recovery in the Retail business and further margin improvement in Commercial Insurance. Further, within the combined ratio, natural catastrophe losses totalled 1.8%, down on H1’24’s 2.4%. P&C insurance revenue increased by 7% or 5% on a like-for-like basis to more than $23 billion.

In the Life segment, BOP of $1 billion for H1’25 is in line with the previous year, with the insurance service result and fee result improving year-on-year.

Life gross premiums and deposits rose 14% on a like-for-like basis to $18.2 billion, as the Life present value of new business premiums increased by 20% on a like-for-like basis to more than $10 billion. Life insurance revenue, short term contracts, rose by 11% on a like-for-like basis to $1.4 billion, and life fee revenue rose by 10% on a like-for-like basis to $384 million.

At Farmers, gross written premiums swelled 5% to $15 billion and gross earned premiums rose 3% to $14.2 billion. Despite the losses from the wildfires in Los Angeles in January, the segment’s combined ratio for the first six months was a solid 90.5%, an improvement on the prior year’s 95.2%.

Farmers reported a 4% increase in BOP to $1.2 billion for the first half of 2025, compared with $1.1 billion last year.

“I am proud of these outstanding results, which reinforce the strength of our underwriting discipline and operational execution. This performance underscores our ability to effectively manage our diversified portfolio, strong capital position, and high cash conversion to deliver continued industry-leading value to our shareholders, even in a volatile market environment. P&C posted profitable growth, supported by favorable pricing trends, focused management actions and superior risk selection.

“The Life business maintained last year’s record performance, with continued premium expansion and rising demand for protection solutions. Farmers Exchanges reported excellent underwriting results and increased its policy count for the first time in more than a decade,” said Mario Greco, Group Chief Executive Officer.