Stephen Hester sees positives from Brexit vote for RSA
The Brexit vote has provided insurance giant RSA with an "attractive tailwind" despite tricky market conditions, the company revealed this morning.
The group, well known in Britain for its More Than brand, said that while core insurance premiums were up by six per cent, they had fallen on an underlying basis.
Read more: Slimmed down RSA Insurance is looking good
Premiums were down five per cent in absolute terms compared to last year because of the fact that RSA had sold some of its businesses.
“Momentum in the business is excellent across the many improvements to customer service, underwriting effectiveness and cost efficiency we are driving through. Brexit provides us an attractive tailwind from overseas earnings translation, in the context of an otherwise challenging environment, said boss Stephen Hester, the former chief exec of RBS.
The group's Solvency II ratio – a measure of the capital it must put aside to cover the risk of paying out on claims – fell from in line with analyst expectations, from 158 per cent to 151 per cent.
Read more: RSA raises bonuses by 66 per cent, chief takes home £2.5m
Hester warned that the final three months of the year can be a bit tricky for RSA but was confident that the business was where it needs to be to meet 2016 forecasts.
“While Q4 can be a bumpy underwriting period, RSA is on track for strong operating earnings increases for 2016 overall," he said.
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