Zurich Financial Services Group recorded a business operating profit of $US3.9 billion ($5.3 billion), an increase of 32% on 2004.

The company says new business profit margin in life insurance was 14.5%, an improvement of 3.1 percentage points.

Global CEO James Schiro says the company is reporting a record performance following the insurance industry’s most severe natural catastrophe year on record.

Business operating profit for general insurance rose 54% to $US1.9 billion ($2.6 billion).

Zurich says the improvement was supported by the strong underwriting performance in the Europe general insurance and international businesses divisions, an 18% increase in the segment’s net investment income, and significantly reduced prior-year developments.

These factors mitigated the impact of natural catastrophes in the North America commercial and global corporate business divisions.