Zurich’s Asia-Pacific operations have reported a $US122 million ($133 million) leap in gross premium income for the six months ending June 30.

While the performance of Zurich’s Australian and NZ operations aren’t provided in detail, Zurich says the Asia-Pacific region they operate within generated $US768 million ($840 million) of premium for the six months. This was in line with the global operations that reported $US34.9 billion ($38 billion) of gross written premium.

Zurich CEO Martin Senn says the group’s general insurance business delivered a “solid operating performance in a challenging economic and market environment”.

“The business maintained its focus on protecting profit margins and absorbed the significant impact from an unusually large number of weather and catastrophe-driven events,” he said.

General insurance premium income for the six months was $US17.9 billion ($19.5 billion) with an operating profit of $US1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) – down 20% on the corresponding period last year.

This was attributed to higher global natural disaster claims, particularly the February earthquake in Chile.

Zurich says volumes dipped 2% as a result of a continued decline in insured customer exposure, the competitive market environment and the group’s continued disciplined approach to underwriting.

Mr Senn says significant top and bottom-line growth in global life was achieved by stronger demand.

The global life business reported a 13% increase in premium income to $US13.1 billion ($14.3 billion) with an operating profit of $US720 million ($787 million) for the half year.

This was a 12% lift in operating profit compared to the corresponding period last year.