Disasters, Rocky Markets Put Brakes On Munich Re

BERLIN, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th august,2016) : Natural disasters and a tough market environment cut into profits at German reinsurance heavyweight Munich Re in the second quarter, the firm said in financial results on Tuesday. The reinsurer achieved "above average" net profits "despite higher natural catastrophe expenditure in the second quarter -- arising from wildfires in Canada and earthquakes in Japan," chief executive Nikolaus von Bomhard said in a statement. Net profit fell to 974 million Euros ($1.08 billion) in the second quarter, down 9.0 percent compared with the same period in 2015. "We are well on track to reach our annual target of 2.3 billion euros" in net profit despite the setbacks, von Bomhard said -- although the company in May lowered that benchmark from an inital estimate of between 2.

3 and 2.8 billion after weak first-quarter results. Gross income from insurance premiums was down in the second quarter at 11.93 billion euros -- a 4.3-percent drop compared with April to June 2015. Meanwhile, Munich Re's operating profit plunged by 19.5 percent to 1.46 billion euros. The company said that it had "successfully withstood capital market turbulence in the wake of the Brexit referendum", in part by selling off equities in the run-up to the June 23 ballot. But monetary policy interventions continue to make life difficult for the insurer, von Bomhard said.