Reshaped Fortis is in the black after strong inflows
BELGIAN insurer Fortis yesterday unveiled a profit for the third quarter and said revenues in 2009 would at least match last year’s.
The former Dutch-Belgian banking and insurance group, which was broken apart after becoming one of Europe’s largest victims of the global financial crisis, said net profit totalled €196m (£173m) between July and September.
The group said gross inflows had risen one per cent in the year to date in life insurance and fallen one per cent in non-life.
“Our insurance operations continued to perform well in the third quarter and remain solid and stable,” chief executive Bart De Smet said.
“We are confident inflows by the end of the year will be at least at the level of last year.”
Analysts said the numbers were evidence that the Belgian insurer was stabilising after a year of upheaval.
The Belgian arm of what remains of the former Low Countries financial powerhouse is primarily an insurance business with a dominant position in Belgium and operations in Europe and Asia.
The Fortis group was broken up along national lines last October after a partial nationalisation by the governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.