Zurich Insurance Group has reported strong property and casualty (P&C) premium growth for the first nine months of the year and estimates Hurricane Ian net impact at $US550 million ($820 million) on a pre-tax basis.

P&C gross written premium (GWP) amounted to $US33.5 billion ($50 billion) in the January-September period, up 8% from a year earlier as higher commercial rates drove growth.

“We saw robust premium increases across the group, most notably in our North American Property & Casualty business, where rate increases drove double-digit top-line growth,” Group CFO George Quinn said.

“We expect margin trends in our commercial insurance business to be positive into 2023.”

Zurich says growth was especially strong in North America, with GWP up 14% to $US16.2 billion ($24.1 billion) and is upbeat on the outlook for the P&C business.

“The Group expects commercial insurance rates to remain above loss cost trends into 2023. Within retail, the Group expects pricing to reflect inflation trends at renewal in 2023,” Zurich says.

North America achieved about 8% rise in rate adjustments, exceeding the group average of 6%.

In Asia Pacific the business booked 10% increase in GWP to $US2.6 billion ($3.9 billion) while rates improved 3%.