(Bloomberg) — Zurich Insurance Group AG, Switzerland's biggest insurer, fell short of an earnings target as fourth-quarter profit fell 20% on lower income from the general insurance unit. The shares declined.

Net income fell to $858 million from $1.07 billion a year earlier, the Zurich-based insurer said in a statement Thursday. Operating profit from general insurance, the biggest unit, declined 30% to $518 million on lower revenue. The shares dropped 3% to 303.4 francs at 9:16 a.m. in Zurich.

"While we made good progress last year in executing the strategy we set out in December 2013, we cannot be satisfied with our 2014 earnings," Chief Executive Officer Martin Senn said. Business operating profit return on equity was 11% in 2014, and "below our target range," he said.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Commercial Lines
E&S/Specialty
Personal Lines
Sales & Marketing