Zurich Financial Services has reported strong first-half net income of $US1.96 billion ($2.58 billion) – an increase of 9% on the corresponding period last year.

The business operating profit increased 24% to $US2.85 billion ($3.75 billion) but gross written premium for the general insurance business declined 1% to $US18.5 billion ($24.3 billion).

CEO James Schiro says strong operational gains across the businesses generated another good first-half performance.

“The success of our three-year operational improvement program, combined with the improving quality of our general insurance portfolio and consistent profitable growth in the life business, gives us confidence about Zurich’s continued operational momentum.”

The general insurance operating profit grew 29% to $US1.78 billion ($2.34 billion) for the six months – bolstered by improvements in the net underwriting result and investment income. The insurer says catastrophe and large loss experience was low for the half-year and the combined ratio improved 2.1 percentage points to 94.8%.