NU Online News Service, Aug. 6, 3:07 p.m. EDT

Zurich Financial Services reported second quarter net income of $892 million, a 31 percent decline from $1.3 billion for the period in 2008. However, the company noted the figure is a 147 percent increase over the previous quarter's results.

For the first six months of 2009, the Zurich-based financial services provider reported net income of $1.3 billion, a 53 percent decline from the first half of 2008.

The company also announced Martin Senn, currently Zurich's chief investment officer, who joined Zurich in 2006, will replace James J. Schiro as chief executive officer on Jan. 1, 2010. Mr. Schiro will retire Dec. 31, the company said.

For the second quarter, Zurich said business operating profit increased 41 percent from the previous quarter to $1.5 billion.

General insurance gross written premiums and policy fees for the first six months of the year fell 11 percent to $18.2 billion compared to the first half of 2008. The combined ratio was unchanged at 96.2.

For all its operations, Zurich reported first-half gross written premiums and policy fees of $27.4 billion, up from $26.7 billion a year ago. For the second quarter, the company reported $13.2 billion, up from 2008 second quarter gross written premiums and policy fees of $12.3 billion.

Zurich reported 2009 second quarter net investment results on group investments of $1.6 billion, down from 2008 second quarter results of $1.8 billion.

"I am proud of how we have proactively managed our way through this global economic downturn, strengthening our financial position while capitalizing on opportunities," said Mr. Schiro.

"These results demonstrate our ability to generate consistently strong profitability, and underscore our confidence that we will enter the recovery period from a position of strength," he added.

In a conference call, Mr. Schiro put the results in perspective, stating that the "recent upturn of the capital markets only brings us back to the year-end 2008 levels. It does not bring us back to the pre-crisis financial market valuations, or the pre-crisis consumer confidence levels. This is an important reality to keep in mind, and it underscores why we believe these are such outstanding results."

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