Italian insurer Generali posted a record operating profit of €8,004 million for 2025, a 9.7% jump from a year earlier, as stronger property and casualty earnings and robust life insurance inflows bolstered results across the group.

The figures, released alongside the completion of the first year of the insurer's "Lifetime Partner 27: Driving Excellence" plan, showed gross written premiums rising 3.6% to €98.1 billion, while adjusted net profit climbed 14.5% to €4,315 million.

Generali said it would propose a dividend of €1.64 per share, up 14.7%, and a €500 million share buyback for 2026, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Its Solvency II ratio strengthened to 219%, from 210% at the end of 2024.

The standout was property and casualty, where operating profit surged 20% to €3,663 million. The combined ratio improved 1.4 percentage points to 92.6%, helped by a lighter natural catastrophe year.

That puts Generali narrowly behind Allianz, which reported a combined ratio of 92.2% and a Solvency II ratio of 218% in its own full-year results. AXA, meanwhile, ended 2025 with a Solvency II ratio of 224%, the strongest among the three European rivals.

In life insurance, operating profit rose 4.3% to €4,154 million. Net inflows hit €13.5 billion, driven by protection, health, unit-linked and hybrid products.

Natixis fallout

The results also drew attention to Generali's asset management ambitions after the collapse in December of a planned joint venture with Natixis Investment Managers.

The 50-50 venture, first unveiled through a memorandum of understanding in January 2025, would have combined €1.9 trillion in assets under management and created Europe's second-largest asset manager.

But the deal unravelled amid opposition from Rome, which feared it could redirect Italian savings away from the country's sovereign debt pile. Major shareholders Delfin and Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, who together hold about 17% of Generali, also resisted the tie-up.

Both sides said at the time that conditions for a final agreement were not present.

Generali has since pursued smaller deals. Earlier in 2025, its investment arm completed a US$320 million acquisition of a 77% stake in US-based private lending firm MGG Investment Group. Total assets under management across the group reached €900 billion, up 4.3%.

Outlook

Group chief executive Philippe Donnet pointed to the P&C results and life inflows as proof of Generali's focus on core capabilities. He said the insurer was "accelerating the transformation of the Group operating model through the broad deployment of AI, digitalisation and automation."

J.P. Morgan has named Generali among its preferred European insurance picks for 2026, citing potential upside to capital returns and stronger life growth relative to peers.

Shareholders' equity rose 5.5% to €32.1 billion, while the contractual service margin expanded 10.8% to €34.6 billion.