CU premium income up 60%
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Commercial Union, one of the UK's largest insurers, yesterday bucked the trend facing other parts of the life industry by announcing that its world-wide life and pension premiums increased by almost 60 per cent to pounds 2.4bn.
A substantial part of the increase came from the company's French subsidiary, Abeille vie, bought in October 1994 as part of CU's takeover of Groupe Victoire. Abeille vie's single-premium business rose 115 per cent to pounds 1.49bn.
However, the difficulties facing other insurers were reflected in CU's UK results, which showed new annual premium income fell 26 per cent to pounds 40m.
More positively, the company's single-premium business in the UK rose 38 per cent to pounds 345m, boosted largely by sales of its classic investment bond.
World-wide, new annual premiums, the amount investors are prepared to save on a regular basis, rose 12 per cent to pounds 238m.
The company's increase in premium income marks a further stage in its strategy of world-wide diversification, with a growing emphasis on life and pensions business to replace its previous reliance on general insurance activities.
CU said that in the Netherlands, growth in new annual premiums increased by 5 per cent while new single premiums rose by 17 per cent. Elsewhere in Europe, new premium income rose by 31 per cent and single premiums by 24 per cent.
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