Gross written premiums for January to September saw a year-on-year slight decline of 2.8% to €52.1bn (£46.3bn, $57.6bn), with its life premiums tumbling by 4.5% to €36.5bn from €38.4bn the previous year.
The insurer said the decline “reflects the increasingly disciplined approach” to the products on offer, with net cash inflows dwindling by 7% over the year to €10.1 billion because of the “constant policy of active management of the group’s portfolio to boost its profitability”.
Despite this, Generali added that “thanks to the positive development of the technical margin”, the life business operating result in the first nine months was essentially stable at €2.3bn (-0.4%).
Operating profit for the same period dipped by 5.6% to €3.6bn compared to the previous year.
However, Generali – Europe’s third biggest insurer – said third quarter of the year saw a recovery marking an increase of 7.3% due to the “improved technical performance” of life business and solid quarterly performance of Banca Generali.
The group’s net profit exceeded €1.6bn (-5.9%), marking a recovery of 6.4% in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2015.
Alberto Minali, Generali’s group chief financial officer, said: “The results presented today confirm the strength of Generali’s business model. In fact, in a still difficult market context, Generali continued its disciplined management of Life business, which aims to favour its quality and profitability.”
In May, the life company blamed “poor financial market conditions” for a 6.9% Q1 fall in new life business, year on year, to €1.3bn (£1bn, $1.5bn).
