Swiss Re’s P&C reinsurance rises significantly on lower cat losses, CoR strengthens to 77.6%

Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re has reported a significant increase in its property and casualty result for the first nine months of 2025, as a much lower combined ratio, largely thanks to lower major losses, including natural catastrophes, puts the business on track to meet its target of a combined ratio of 85% or below for full year 2025.

Swiss Re recorded a net income of more than $4 billion for the first nine months of 2025, a substantial increase of 85% on the prior year’s $2.2 billion.

At the same time, Swiss Re has reported that its return on equity (ROE) for 9M’25 rose to 22.5%, in comparison to 13.3% for 9M’24, with the reinsurer highlighting the strong underwriting profit in P&C Re as being a key driver of the increase in net income.

Within its P&C Re division, net income surged by a huge 278% to $2.3 billion for the first nine months of the year, in contrast to $607 million for the same period last year, as large natural catastrophe claims decreased to $611 million, primarily related to the Los Angeles wildfires, while man-made large losses hit $277 million.

In addition, Swiss Re reported that its P&C Re insurance service result increased by 187% year-on-year to $2.9 billion for the first nine months of the year, supported by lower losses from natural catastrophe events, while the prior year period was also impacted by significant reserving

As a result, the reinsurer’s P&C Re combined ratio strengthened to 77.6% for 9M’25, in comparison to 92.8% from the prior year period, with the business on track to achieve its target of a combined ratio of 85% or below for full year 2025.

Swiss Re’s Group Chief Executive Officer Andreas Berger, commented: “We have two priorities: delivering on our financial targets and increasing the resilience of the Group. Our results for the first nine months of 2025 reflect this. After significant large loss events in the first quarter, the second and third quarters benefited from low natural catastrophe losses. This provided a substantial tailwind to our property and casualty businesses, supported further by our continued focus on underwriting quality. In L&H Re, we are accelerating efforts to improve the resilience of the in-force book.”

Swiss Re’s Group Chief Financial Officer Anders Malmström, said: “Alongside a strong underwriting result for the first nine months of the year in our property and casualty businesses, we have maintained healthy margins on new business written in the period. Additionally, all Business Units continue to benefit from robust recurring investment income.”

“Thanks to the strong performance in the first nine months of 2025, we are well on- track to meet our Group net income target of more than USD 4.4 billion for the full year and our combined ratio targets for both of our property and casualty businesses. In L&H Re, we are taking decisive steps to increase resilience. These actions, together with our continued cost discipline, strengthen the core of our business,” added CEO Berger.

Read further details of Swiss Re’s Group results over on our sister publication, Reinsurance News.