Swiss Re Q4 profit falls 45% as disasters weigh

Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, announced Thursday fourth-quarter that net profit dropped 45 percent after outlays on claims from natural disasters such as Hurricane Matthew and an earthquake in New Zealand proved costly.

Swiss Re proposed raising its regular dividend for 2016 to 4.85 Swiss francs from 4.60 francs in 2015 and announced a new share buyback program of up to 1 billion Swiss francs ($989.8 million).

Net profit for the year fell to $3.558 billion, behind the average estimate of $3.716 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Swiss Re confirmed its mid-term targets. It also said Chief Underwriting Officer Matthias Weber had decided to step down, and would be replaced by Edouard Schmid, currently head of property and casualty reinsurance, as of June 30.

Source: Reuters