Australia

Last year’s earnings dropped below the five-year average ROE of 10.7%.

The pandemic has had a negative effect on gross written premiums.

The sector will reach an ROE of 15% this year, lower than last year’s 16%.

Insurance profit skyrocketed to $861m from $62m in 2017. QBE Insurance Group has reached the end of the tunnel as it reversed from a $1.2b loss in 2017 to a $390m profit in 2018. According to the firm, the comeback was buoyed by the ‘significantly reduced catastrophic activity’, exclusion of a $700m non-cash goodwill impairment charge and a $230m non-cash write down of deferred tax assets. Insurance profit skyrocketed to $861m from $62m in 2017. In total, the firm’s gross premiums in 2018 grew 3% YoY to $13.7b. Moreover, the firm’s final dividend hit $0.36 (A$0.50) from $0.18 (A$0.26) in 2017. “Significant portfolio rationalisation and simplification, successful placement of the restructured 2019 reinsurance program, divisional consolidation, and initiation of a three-year operational efficiency programme position us well to deliver further value to our shareholders in 2019,” group CEO Pat Regan said in a statement.

Australia represents an attractive market for Japanese insurers amidst shrinking markets back home.