Zurich Continues to Boost Earnings in the First Half of the Year

The Zurich Group earned more money in the first half of 2026 and significantly improved its results. The Group succeeded in achieving further profitable growth in property and casualty (P&C) insurance. Zurich is also performing well in the life insurance business.

Zurich's business operating profit (BOP) climbed 13 percent to $4.77 billion from January through June, the insurance group announced on Thursday. This surpassed the record set in the previous year.

All in all, net income rose by 14 percent to $3.49 billion. Zurich thus clearly exceeded analysts’ expectations, which had averaged $3.43 billion (AWP consensus) ahead of the earnings release. Estimates for the BOP stood at $4.61 billion.

Lucrative P&C Business

The P&C segment has been a guarantee of success for years. Premium income there continued to rise, increasing by 10 percent to $29.9 billion. The combined ratio, a measure of operating profitability, deteriorated only slightly—by 0.3 percentage points—to 92.7 percent compared with the strong prior-year figure. There were no major catastrophic events.

Operating profit (BOP) in the P&C business rose by 16 percent to $2.81 billion. In particular, BOP also rose in the life insurance segment (+23 percent to 1.27 billion) and in the business with U.S. partner Farmers (+2 percent to 1.18 billion).

Still on Track

Zurich continues to believe it is on track to exceed the targets set in its three-year program, which runs through 2027. With a return on equity of 25.1 percent in the first half of 2026, the Group has already exceeded its target of “at least 23 percent.” For the life insurance business, the BOP forecast has been raised slightly to 10 percent growth.

Zurich is taking its next step toward growth in the specialty insurance sector, where it has acquired the British provider Beazley for just under 11 billion dollars. The acquisition is expected to be completed later this year.