QBE on track
Big general insurer QBE has confirmed it is on track to reach its full-year targets but has curbed its interim dividend to shareholders, opting to take more profit as capital in the face of greater exposure to catastrophe risk in the second half.
In an interim results announcement released to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today, QBE chief executive John Neal said the company remained on track to deliver what was anticipated to be “top quartile performance in the global non-life insurance market with a target 92 per cent combined operating ratio and an 11 per cent insurance profit margin in 2013”.
The company said it expected premium rates to increase by 4-5 per cent on average across the group through the remainder of 2013, most notably in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
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