The results showed Zurich had braved choppy financial markets as well as competitive insurance markets, where prices paid for premiums are dropping, the group's Chief Financial Officer Dieter Wemmer said on Thursday.
"(We are) mainly talking about financial markets but we are also seeing a difficult rate environment in some markets, in particular U.S. commercial and the corporate business in the U.S.," Wemmer told journalists.
Overall premiums in local currencies were 2 percent higher, Wemmer said, which he called a "quite strong" growth rate compared with competitors.