Bâloise Holding AG's first-half profit attributable to shareholders increased to CHF395.0 million from CHF269.7 million in the prior-year period.
The sharp increase was attributable to a one-off accounting effect related to tax, which boosted earnings by about CHF128 million. Adjusted for this effect, profit attributable to shareholders was still at a "very good" level of CHF267.3 million and thus on a par with the figure for the prior-year period, the Swiss insurer said.
The volume of premiums collected in the life business grew by 30.4% to CHF2.87 billion from CHF2.20 billion a year ago. The main factor in the rise was growth of CHF669.0 million in the traditional life business, which was primarily due to a competitor withdrawing its insurance products from the group life insurance segment.
Earnings in the life insurance business fell to CHF106.3 million from CHF193.6 million a year earlier as reserves had to be strengthened due to the low interest rate environment.
The volume of premiums collected in the nonlife business was essentially flat at CHF2.26 billion.
The net combined ratio improved to 87.4% from 94.1% in the prior-year period. The first half of 2018 had been adversely affected by the strengthening of reserves. For 2019, Baloise said it should be able to achieve a combined ratio at the bottom end of the defined target range of 90% to 95%.
