Swiss Life profit doubles
Net profit for Switzerland’s largest insurer rose by 94 per cent in the first half of 2010 to SFr269 million ($258 million), up from SFr139 million a year earlier.
Zurich-based Swiss Life announced on Wednesday that group premium income increased 20 per cent to SFr12.2 billion, as economic recovery persuaded customers to invest again in life insurance policies in Germany and France.
Operating profit for the first six months of the year was SFr415 million, up from SFr251 million for the same period in 2009.
AWD, a German group of independent financial advisers bought for €1.2 billion (SFr1.6 billion) in 2008, reported an operating profit of €20.4 million, putting it on course for the full-year operating profit target of €40-50 million.
Swiss Life has said the costly investment is crucial to growing sales of its products, particularly in the strategically important German market.
“Although we face great challenges because of the low interest rate environment and tougher competition, we are confident that we will achieve our goals for 2010,” CEO Bruno Pfister said.
swissinfo.ch and agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.