Zurich's UK Life business saw profits fall 17% to £55m for the first half of 2015 compared to the first half of 2014 however annualised premium equivalent rose 35% to £466m, the insurer's half year results have revealed.
The fall in profits was described as "healthy given a large one off in the first half of 2014 and lower bond yields this year."
Protection volumes increased "significantly, particularly in the group market" and new business value increased 23% to £64m.
The new business margin decreased 1.2 points, to 13.7%, attributed to higher volumes in savings which has a lower margin and volume growth in the protection business, which has a higher margin.
Gary Shaughnessy, CEO for Zurich's UK Life business, said:"We have seen strong and profitable growth, despite headwinds caused by low UK yields and turbulent global markets.
"We expect the economic environment to remain challenging but as these results show, we are well placed to handle this.
"These results not only demonstrate we are delivering on our strategy but show the breadth and diversity of our business, with robust sales and profits coming from across our retail, corporate and legacy business units.
"At the same time, we continue to invest in the growth of our retail and corporate savings businesses.
"In particular, our retail savings platform is maturing well, while our corporate protection business has also performed very strongly, growing in the group income protection market as well as continuing to increase our share of the Group Life market.
"Strong sales across our protection business continue to be supported by the quality of our life underwriting.
"We price risk well and when customers do claim, we accept 95% of claims and pay critical illness claims quicker than the market."
Further Reading:
Mixed protection results for L&G
