ACE Limited today reported net income for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, of USD 2.32 per share, compared with USD 2.66 per share for the same quarter last year. Operating income was USD 2.64 per share, compared with USD 2.49 per share for the same quarter last year. Book value and tangible book value per share increased 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively, from June 30, 2014. Book value and tangible book value per share now stand at USD 90.38 and USD 74.05, respectively. Operating return on equity for the quarter was 12.6%. The property and casualty (P&C) combined ratio for the quarter was 86.3%.

PZU SA has finally gathered all the required permits for the acquisition of the Group RSA: Link4, LIETUVOS Draudimas AB, AAS Balta Codan Forsikring and A/S Estonia. On October 14, the deadline within which the relevant financial supervision entities of Denmark and Estonia had to submit comments to the acquisition by PZU of the Estonian part of Codan Forsikring A/S, founded in Denmark has expired. As no objection was raised until now, the transaction may proceed as planned.

The rating agency AM Best has announced that it has upgraded Italy's Generali outlook to stable from negative and has affirmed the rating at A (Excellent). A.M. Best has revised the outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) of "a" of Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. (Generali) (Italy) and its main subsidiaries. At the same time, A.M. Best has affirmed the ratings of debt instruments issued or guaranteed by Generali.

A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of "a-" of Pozavarovalnica SAVA d.d. (SAVA Re) (Slovenia), the operating holding company of the SAVA Re Group. The outlook for both ratings is stable.

Following its regular annual revision, on 3 October 2014 the A.M. Best credit rating agency reaffirmed the financial strength rating of "A-" (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of "a-" (Excellent) of Zavarovalnica TRIGLAV. Both credit ratings reflect solid risk-adjusted capitalisation, good business results and dominant competitive position in the Slovene market, the Slovene group has announced.

The first interim report of CROATIA Osiguranje after its acquisition by the Croatian ADRIS Group shows a consolidated loss after tax and minority interest amounting to HRK 71.3 million (~EUR 9.42 million), mostly attribuable to the decrease in premium revenue, increasing reserves volume and and the loss recorded as a result of the decrease in financial assets.

STANDARD & POOR's rating agency has just announced maintaining POLISH Re's rating at the level BBB+ with the stable outlook for the upcoming year. Recently, another rating agency, AM Best once again confirmed the POLISH RE's rating at the level 'A-' (Excellent) also with the stable outlook. "The Company's strategy is to build a diversified, profitable portfolio while maintaining stable financial condition and high-quality risk assessment procedures", commented an official of the Polish reinsurer.

TRIGLAV Group and the parent company performed well in 1H2014, maintaining a high level of financial stability, as confirmed by "A-" credit ratings from Standard & Poor's and A.M. Best. Slovenian group's net profit increased, amounting to EUR 56.3 million, while earned premiums totaled EUR 487.8 million.

VIENNA Insurance Group announced its 1H2014 pretax profit increased 41.4% y-o-y to EUR 290.9 million, while the value of premiums remained stable at around EUR 5.0 billion. "Around 55% of these profits were in the CEE region, where also the Romanian Group companies further improved their performance", the Austrian group noted in a press release. The combined ratio fell by 2.7% to 97.1% despite "the severe weather claims, particularly in Austria, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina".

UNIGA Group Austria reported for the first six months of the current year, gross written premiums of EUR 3.13 billion, up 2% y-o-y. The Vienna based insurer generated a profit on ordinary activities (EBT) of EUR 181.4 million (-7.7% y-o-y), while the net profit for the period amounted to EUR 125.7 million (vs. EUR 152.9 million in 1H2013). At the same time, UNIQA said it improved the group cost ratio and combined ratio at 21.9% and 98.3% respectively.

Slovenian SAVA Re Group said during January-June 2014 it realized 60.3% of the budgeted annual consolidated gross premiums written (of EUR 445 million), while the consolidated net profit reached 53.3% of the planned full-year profit target (of EUR 24 million).

The PZU Group ended 1H2014 with a net profit of PLN 1,720.7 million (EUR 413.6 million), 2.6% up y-o-y, mostly as a result of the preservation of profitability in the insurance business and growth of the net income from investments.
During the analyzed period, the result from investment operations amounted to PLN 1,357.8 million, a y-o-y rise of 40.1%. PZU Group also achieved a high rate of return on the assets. Thus the ROE indicator of 1H2014 reached 27.5%, with a growth of 3.2 pp compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Swiss ZURICH Insurance Group posted a 1H2014 business operating profit (BOP) of USD 2.6 billion, up 15% y-o-y, while its net income attributable to shareholders (NIAS) increased to USD 2.1 billion, from USD 1.9 billion in 1H2013. At the same time, the H1 combined ratio improved by 2%, to 96.1%.

According to CEO of INGOSSTRAKH Insurance Company, Mikhail VOLKOV, the insurance business in Russia is in a very difficult situation: regulation gets tougher; MTPL is undergoing a crisis, etc.

PZU's acquisition of the British Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance subsidiaries in Poland and the Baltic keeps moving forward as the Polish insurance market's leader recently got a green light from anti-monopoly and consumer protection office UOKiK for the takeover of insurer Link4, UOKiK said in a statement.

Austrian insurer UNIQA remains committed to doing business in Russia and Ukraine, despite political tensions between these two countries, said Andreas BRANDSTETTER, CEO of the group, in an interview for WirtschaftsBlatt.

The German insurer TALANX reported a slight growth in gross written premium in the first half of 2014 to EUR 15 billion. At the same time, the operating profit (EBIT) remained unchanged at EUR 1 billion, the Group net income declines slightly to EUR 381 million (vs. EUR 410 million in 1H2013), while the combined ratio was roughly on par with the previous year, at 96.4% (vs. 96.1%).

In the first half of the year, ALLIANZ Group reported the highest total revenues in the company's history. Total revenues rose 7.8% to EUR 63.42 billion. Operating profit climbed 6.4% to EUR 5.49 billion, while net income attributable to shareholders advanced 3% to EUR 3.40 billion in 1H2014.

KBC ended the second quarter of 2014 with a net profit of 317 million euros, compared with 397 million euros in the previous quarter and 517 million euros in the second quarter of 2013.After excluding the impact of the legacy business (CDOs, divestments) and the valuation of own credit risk, adjusted net profit came to 287 million euros for the second quarter of 2014, compared with 387 million euros in the first quarter of 2014 and 485 million euros in the second quarter of 2013.

AEGON reported Solid business growth driving higher underlying earnings before tax. Underlying earnings up 7% to EUR 514 million, driven by growth, improved operational performance and higher equity markets; partly offset by unfavorable mortality experience and exchange rate movements; Fair value items loss of EUR 263 million, mainly due to hedging programs and model updates; Net income up 43% to EUR 343 million, resulting mainly from higher realized gains; Return on equity increases to 8.8%, or 9.6% excluding capital allocated to run-off businesses.