Surging investment returns in the fourth quarter have allowed Zurich Insurance Group to table a slight increase in full-year net income.

Fourth-quarter net income after tax rose 82% to $US983 million ($949.5 million) – driven by higher capital gains from investments – taking the full-year result to $US3.88 billion ($3.75 billion), up 3% on 2011.

CEO Martin Senn says the “solid performance” of 2012 was “characterised by ongoing challenges”.

“The integration of our acquired insurance business in Latin America and Malaysia is progressing well and contributing meaningfully to growth as evidenced in the strong contribution to profitability from these areas,” Mr Senn said.

Zurich’s return on investments kept the company ahead of the previous year, as the group’s insurance and life businesses lost ground. Business operating profit in the general insurance business was down 7% in US dollar terms on the previous year to $US2.09 billion ($2.01 billion), despite a 0.5 percentage point improvement in combined ratio to 98.4%.

Gross written premium (GWP) and policy fees were up 3% to $US35.61 billion ($34.39 billion).

GWP in the global life business rose 9% in US dollar terms to $US30.26 billion ($29.22 billion). However, business operating profit was stagnant at $US1.34 billion ($1.29 billion) and new business value after tax fell 9% to $US890 million ($859.64 million).