- Business operating profit (BOP) of USD 4.2 billion, down 20%, driven by COVID-19-related impact and higher catastrophe losses
- Property & Casualty (P&C) claims related to COVID-19, net of reduced claims frequency, unchanged at USD 450 million. Overall COVID-19 impact on Group including life and other business of USD 852 million1
- Strong performance in commercial insurance, leaving Group well placed to benefit further from improved prices
- Customer and employee satisfaction rise to record high, reflecting quick adaptation to new ways of providing services and protecting employees
- Net income attributable to shareholders USD 3.8 billion, down 8%
- Capital position remains strong with Swiss Solvency Test (SST) ratio at 182%2, new SST target3 of 160% or above
- Stable proposed dividend of CHF 20 per share
Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) reported a decline in profit for the full year 2020, with the first half impacted by COVID-19 and a return to growth in the second half. Throughout the year, Zurich focused on supporting customers and colleagues, earning their trust and achieving record levels of satisfaction.
Group Chief Executive Officer Mario Greco said: “Our results confirm the strength of our business, the agility of our people and the timeliness of our digital strategy. We kept our business fully operational throughout the year and our actions underlined our strong sense of social responsibility.
We stayed closer to our customers than ever before, helping them beyond our contractual obligations, including refunds and discounts, waiving exclusions for pandemics, adjusting premiums, suspending cancellations and working with them to change payment plans or providing tenants with partial rent relief.
Together with the Z Zurich Foundation, we assisted front-line medical teams, supported production of hospital ventilators and continued to support charities caring for the vulnerable as donations were drying up due to the crisis.
We acted as a responsible employer, protecting our people and their families with free health benefits, including COVID-19 hospitalization coverage, testing and flu vaccinations, and will extend this to COVID-19 vaccination as it becomes more widely available.
At the same time, we continued fighting climate change, including through impact investing, new resilience services for commercial customers and the Zurich Forest, a project in Brazil to restore a biodiverse habitat and mobilize employees for climate action. More than 100,000 seedlings have already been planted.
Our business performed well, with strong growth in commercial insurance. And we continued to execute against strategic priorities. Our achievements include the renewal of our distribution partnership with Deutsche Bank, the creation of Global Business Platforms to drive innovation, and the Farmers agreement to acquire MetLife’s property and casualty business in the U.S., which lays the foundations for further growth.
I am proud of the way we acted in 2020 and the results we achieved, and looking ahead I’m confident in the strength of our business, our strategy and our employees to deliver on our goals.”