Speaking at the Group’s investor day today, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mario Greco is to detail how the company has made strong progress since rebalancing its business mix and restoring management discipline and efficiency.
“I am very pleased that we are fully delivering on the financial targets that we set out back in 2016,” Greco said in a statement. “Two years into our strategic cycle we are a very different company from the one we were in 2016.”
Zurich’s business operating profit after tax return on equity for the first six months of 2018 was 12.3% and it achieved cumulative net expense savings of $900 million.
The insurer expects to achieve net savings of $1.1 billion by the end of 2018, which is well in line with its end-2019 target of $1.5 billion.
Management will also highlight to investors how Zurich has reinforced its position in the certain markets through targeted acquisitions while releasing capital from non-core operations.
Going forward, Zurich said it plans to further build on its customer-oriented strategy by strengthening its capabilities and expanding its service offerings.
“We are customer-led, with a more focused footprint and empowered local units and our management team is focused on disciplined execution and expanding the service offerings to deepen our customer relationships and drive profitable growth,” continued Greco. “Together with our strong capital position and cash generation this supports attractive and growing shareholder returns.”
Zurich’s cash remittances for the first half of 2018 also continued to be strong, putting the insurer on track to achieve its target of more than $9.5 billion from 2017 to 2019.
The company expects to generate accumulated cash remittances of more than $7 billion for the two years 2017 and 2018, and net cash remittances in excess of $1 billion per annum in Life for 2018-2021.
Additionally, Zurich remains well capitalised, posting a Z-ECM ratio of 134% as of the end of September 2018, well above its 100-120% target range.