Allianz’s third-quarter property and casualty earnings increased as natural catastrophe claims fell and performance improved in countries including Australia, the UK and France. 

Australian operating profit rose 18.3% to €175 million ($285 million) and the combined operating ratio improved 2.6 percentage points to 87.8%.

Total business volume for the quarter rose 12.4% to €1.2 billion ($2 billion). In the nine-month period, rates increased 10.4% on renewal.

Global P&C operating profit surged 36.2% to €2 billion ($3.3 billion). Flooding hit Germany and central Europe, but claims were lower than in the exceptionally active catastrophe period a year earlier. Total business volume also increased.

“The growth is well spread across our entities and geographies,” CFO Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre told a briefing. “We see clearly for the UK and Australia the continued improvement in terms of combined ratio and operating profit.”

The improvement in these markets reflects actions by local teams to improve business quality, she says.

Operating profit including all the company’s divisions rose 13.6% for the quarter to €3.9 billion ($6.4 billion). For the nine-month period, it increased 7.9% to €11.8 billion ($19.2 billion), driven by all business segments.

“The strong performance throughout the first nine months of the year enables us to anticipate a full-year operating profit in the upper half of the target range of €14.8 billion ($24.1 billion) plus or minus €1 billion ($1.6 billon),” Ms Coste-Lepoutre said.