Zurich Insurance Group is continuing to expand its middle market and specialty footprint by investing heavily this year in targeted recruitment of “top-tier underwriting talent” across the group.
“In the U.S. alone, we have hired more than 100 middle market and specialty underwriting professionals, all operating out of an expansive network of more than 30 locations,” according to Zurich’s Chief Financial Officer Claudia Cordioli, during an earnings call with equities analysts to discuss third quarter results.
In the U.S. alone this year, Zurich is opening five new offices, she confirmed.
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“Zurich continues to execute on its strategy to expand underwriting capabilities globally, reinforced by targeted recruitment of top-tier underwriting talent,” the company said in its nine-month financial results report, issued on November 6.
Cordioli acknowledged that the strategy will increase the group’s expense ratio – at least in the short term – but the benefits to profitable growth will soon become apparent.
“I expect the teams that are coming on board to start actively producing business next year,” she said during the earnings call. From a middle market perspective, “each underwriter would be expected to bring in premiums between $8 million and $9 million, so it’s substantial what these people will bring onboard.”
Dedicated Specialty Unit in London
To capture the full market potential of specialty lines, Cordioli said, Zurich is establishing a dedicated global specialty unit in London “to integrate and leverage our global capabilities to drive expansion of our approximately $9 billion portfolio of diversified exposure.”
“We believe the high barriers to entry and prerequisite risk expertise in these business areas will drive attractive long-term earnings growth and shareholder returns.”
“…[O]ur focus on middle market and specialty lines positions us to benefit from long-term growth trends, such as investments in infrastructure and technology-related construction,” Cordioli said in a statement from the financial results report.
In the earnings call, she noted that the underlying strength of Zurich’s middle market business has offset ongoing actions to prune parts of its U.S. program business, which didn’t meet strict underwriting standards.
“It is important to recognize the truly global complexion of these businesses. For example, our middle market footprint at the 9-month stage is 40% international in terms of gross written premium,” Cordioli continued.
Moving to the group’s overall performance during the nine-months ended September 30, Zurich’s property/casualty business achieved record gross written premiums of $38.9 billion, up 8% year-on-year, supported by average rate increases of 2%, Zurich said in its financial report. (Zurich doesn’t report operating profit figures for its third quarter/nine months’ financials).
Record GWP was driven by exceptional growth in retail (with GWP up 16% from the same period in 2024) and continued positive momentum in commercial insurance (with 3% GWP growth), Zurich said.
Sophisticated Risk Selection
“Greater sophistication on pricing, customer segmentation and claims management are all combining to enhance our retail margins,” Cordioli said.
“A strong environment for rates is complementing the management actions that we are undertaking to sustainably elevate profitability,” she said.
Although losses from natural catastrophes remained well below prior year levels, Zurich said, results also benefited from “sophisticated risk selection.”
“Over the last four years, proactive portfolio management led to a 25% reduction of U.S. hurricane average annual loss exposure,” Zurich said in its financial report.
Although rates have been softening, Cordioli emphasized, it’s important to differentiate by line of business and by customer segment.
She explained that property-catastrophe rates have seen some moderation after several years of strong performance and lower levels of sizable catastrophes in 2025 – other than the California wildfires in the first quarter. “The fact that prices are moderating is a reflection of that,” she said during a media briefing to discuss the nine-month results.
“It’s still a very profitable business; we have to write it, but we’re not necessarily in growth mode with large customers in property,” she said.
When looking at other lines, such as commercial motor in the U.S., prices are going up by 15%, she said. “We don’t see a slowdown there because loss trends have been quite sustained.”
Another example – financial lines – also is bucking the softening trend. After a number of years of rates increases slowing down, prices are now starting to strengthen a bit, Cordioli said. “It’s really a case-by-case situation; overall we’re writing business at very attractive margins.”
The result is that Zurich has been able to improve its combined ratios this year, she said, noting that it is still “a super-attractive market” to write business and to grow – but on a targeted basis.
One example cited by Zurich in its financial report is construction business which achieved positive rate increases of 5%, further strengthening its profitability, with a combined ratio that is better than the group specialty lines average of 85%. (A combined ratio below 100% indicates an underwriting profit).
Farmers’ Transforming
Additional positive news came from the Farmers Exchanges (owned by their policyholders), which have seen “further evidence of a meaningful transformation,” she said during the analysts’ earnings call.
The Farmers Exchanges, which are owned by their policyholders, grew GWP by 5% in the first nine months to $22.6 billion, “backed by a strong increase in new business and higher retention,” Zurich said in its results statement.
Policy count growth accelerated during the third quarter, increasing by 103,000 policies in the last six months.
“The fundamental repositioning of the Farmers Exchanges is manifesting in organic growth for the first time in over a decade,” Cordioli said. (Zurich has no ownership interest in the Farmers Exchanges but via the Farmers Group, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, it provides certain non-claims services and other fee services).
Topics Trends Commercial Lines Excess Surplus Underwriting Talent Business Insurance Training Development
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