RSA???s core written premiums drop 5%

RSA Insurance Group reported a five percent fall in core net written premiums for first the nine months of the year to GBP4.41 billion (USD6.76 billion), but said this is up one percent on a constant currency basis.

The insurance company added that insurance markets remain challenging and financial markets volatile. However, costs continue to fall as expected, while other operational improvement actions showing good results.

"Within those constraints, RSA is making strong progress on the path to high quality and sustained business outperformance," chief executive Stephen Hester said.

RSA's economic capital surplus–a measure of financial stability–fell to GBP1.0 billion at September 30, from GBP1.7 billion at June 30. Earlier this year, RSA, held takeover talks with Swiss peer Zurich Insurance Group AG. However, the discussions were called off in September by Zurich due to the deterioration in the trading performance of its general insurance business.