Allianz says net profit increased 4% to €6.9 billion ($9.6 billion) last year as its life and health and asset management businesses offset weakness in the property and casualty (P&C) division.

P&C operating earnings decreased 4.2% to €5.4 billion ($7.5 billion) due to a lower investment result.

The division’s combined operating ratio improved 0.3 percentage points to 94.3%, partly due to fewer natural catastrophe claims, while gross written premium (GWP) held steady at  €51.5 billion ($71.3 billion).

CFO Dieter Wemmer says P&C growth improved in the fourth quarter, with both volume and price contributing to gains.

“Allianz Worldwide Partners and Turkey helped to drive growth, as did Germany,” he said. “We are moving steadily toward our goal of a 94% combined operating ratio by 2018.”

Fourth-quarter GWP grew 2.4% to €11.2 billion ($15.5 billion), and operating profit increased 16.4% to €1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) compared with the corresponding period of 2015.

Allianz has announced a share buyback program of up to €3 billion ($4.1 billion) over the next year and raised its operating forecast for this year to €10.8 billion ($14.9 billion), plus or minus €500 million ($692 million), despite uncertainties flowing from a tumultuous environment last year.

“The year was filled with surprises, not all of them welcome, that challenged many assumptions, fuelled geopolitical uncertainty and market volatility, and that make [this year] difficult to predict,” CEO Oliver Bate said.