Zurich bucks the downward trend
The company — which formerly went under the Eagle Star trading name — said its 2010 growth was seen both via its pensions and life insurance offerings. The growth also compared favourably with an average fall of 6% for the wider market as a whole.
New life business was up by 16% — compared with a market average of 8% — to €38.7m; while headline new pensions business value was down by 3% (to €139.1m); albeit against an overall market fall of 10%. Single premium pensions business was up by 22% and Zurich Ireland’s share of Ireland’s total pensions market was up by 1% to 19%. Its share of the life insurance market also rose by 1%, to 13%. The company’s total share of the Irish financial services market rose 2% last year to 18% — with profitability continuing with a new business margin of 2.6% of present value of premiums expected to be received over the lifetime of 2010 new business.
