Royal & SunAlliance’s Canadian operations improve combined ratio

The U.K.-based Royal & SunAlliance group produced an overall operating profit for the first six months of this year of 192 million pound sterling compared with the 119 million pounds reported for the same period in 2003. Although the insurers’ net written premiums fell by 32% year-on-year to 2.5 billion pounds for the first six months of this year, which the company attributes to a restructuring of its business portfolio to boost profitability, the overall combined ratio rose marginally to 99.7% versus the 99.3% ratio shown for the first half of 2003.RSA’s Canadian operations were, however, able to reduce the combined ratio for the first six months of this year by 3.5 percentage points to 97.8%, according to a company statement. "Both the household and property accounts have achieved a reduction in large losses and seen improved claims frequency. There has been some premium reduction following the work to restructure the portfolio."