Desjardins General Insurance Group’s 2011 profit dips slightly, based on weather-related claims costs

Desjardins General Insurance Group, a Desjardins Group subsidiary specializing in property and casualty insurance, posted a net income of $128.2 million in 2011, dipping slightly from a $132.8-million profit in 2010.

The 2011 result reflects an increase in commercial and weather-related claims costs, the company says in a press release.

Direct written premiums increased by 11.1%, to $1.830 billion, and the number of policies in force surpassed 2 million. All business areas contributed to this growth — individual home and auto insurance, group insurance, white label partnerships, and commercial lines (in Québec only).

“I’m very happy to see that Desjardins General Insurance Group is expanding its sales across the country,” said Monique F. Leroux, board chair, president and CEO of Desjardins Group, and CEO of Desjardins General Insurance Group. “Combined with Desjardins’ purchase of Western Financial Group in 2011, this gives us an increasingly strong position in Canada’s P&C insurance sector.”

The combined ratio increased to 98.3%, compared to 94.8% in 2010. The company said this was “mostly due to loss ratio increases from claims in Québec and the Maritime provinces associated with Hurricane Irene, and from higher commercial loss reserves.”

Ontario auto accident benefits and bodily injury claims remain high, the company noted, although “the trend did show some improvement through the year as the Ontario Government’s auto insurance reforms continued to take effect.”

Return on equity was 17.4% and the company reported an underwriting profit for the nineteenth consecutive year.