Chilean insurance companies achieved earnings of 622.96 billion Chilean pesos in 2017, 26.2% higher than the 493.51 billion pesos recorded in the previous year, Diario Financiero reported.
The result was driven mostly by the life insurance business, whose profits came to 587.80 billion pesos, up 39.2% from a year ago.
Meanwhile, the bottom line for general insurance came to 26.84 billion pesos, down 56.27%. Credit insurance was also down year over year in 2017, as the segment's profits shrank 15.19% to reach 8.31 billion pesos.
Consorcio Financiero SA took the lead among companies in the life insurance segment, with earnings of 140.92 billion pesos. In the general insurance area, BCI Seguros Generales stood out with profits of 17.21 billion pesos.
Meanwhile, the worst results were observed among general insurance companies that underwent mergers in recent years, including HDI Seguros S.A., which registered a loss of 4.07 billion pesos, and Liberty Compania de Seguros Generales SA, which closed the year with a loss of 27.26 billion pesos.
As of March 5, US$1 was equivalent to 598.60 Chilean pesos.
