Allianz Group and AGCS released its financial results for the full year 2019 ('12M 2019').
- In 2019, AGCS increased gross premium written by €914 million to €9.101 billion (12M 2018: €8.186 billion). This growth is driven by all Lines of Business and North America and Regional Unit London in particular and generally supported by strong effective rate increases of 10.8% on average across the AGCS portfolio (renewals and new business). AGCS has attracted new business of €1.7 billion in gross written premium, which compensated for adjustments in underwriting appetite and exposure reduction in parts of the portfolio.
- The combined ratio deteriorated to 112.3.% (12M 2018: 101.5%), which is 10.8% p-points worse than prior year. While catastrophe losses were lower than in 2018, there was an increase in large claims from industry events which was most notable in Liability, Aviation and Engineering. In addition, the claims environment for prior-year long-tail exposures deteriorated. This resulted in a reserve strengthening, shown in a total runoff development of minus €591 million. The main drivers are Financial Lines in Australia and UK, Product Recall in Europe and General Liability in North America.
- Operating profit reduced by €566 million to minus €284 million for 12M 2019 (12M 2018: plus €282 million) as a result of a lower underwriting result partly offset by higher investment income.
