Reinsurer Swiss Re has made provisions in its U.S. liability business. This step followed a comprehensive review of the reserves, as stated in a communication released on Thursday.

Provisions for prior years' claims in the U.S. liability business of P&C Re were increased by $2,4 billion in the third quarter. This brings the total reserve increases in the first nine months of the year to $3,1 billion.

Comprehensive Review of the U.S. Liability Business

«The strengthening of the reserves was in line with the decision to accelerate achieving the goal of positioning the overall reserves at the upper end of the best estimate range,» the company further stated.

Releases in other segments partially offset the increases. The net increase in reserves for the third quarter of 2024 amounted to $2,0 billion.

Lower Guidance

For the past quarter, Swiss Re now expects a profit of around $0,1 billion and for the first nine months of 2024, a profit of approximately $2,2 billion.

Assuming a normal claims environment, a profit of more than $3 billion is now expected for the full year. Previously, the annual guidance was for an IFRS Group profit of more than $3,6 billion.

Swiss Re expects to achieve the respective annual targets for Life & Health Reinsurance (L&H Re) and Corporate Solutions. However, due to the increased provisions, P&C Re will not be able to achieve the targeted combined ratio of less than 87 percent.

Decisive Measures

«Increasing the overall resilience of the group is one of the management team's top priorities,» emphasized CEO Andreas Berger. «With the decisive measures taken in the third quarter, we have achieved our goal of positioning the reserves at the upper end of the best estimate range. Importantly, we have addressed reserve developments across our entire U.S. liability portfolio, including all prior underwriting years.»

The company will announce detailed results for the first nine months of the year on November 14.