The insurer said what it called “a year of record storms” had pushed its underwriting margin to 1.9pc in 2025, compared with 5.2pc in 2024.
As a result, operating profit declined to €64m from €73m a year earlier. The general insurance underwriting business grew, across personal, commercial and health, according to Declan O’Rourke, Aviva Insurance Ireland Chief Executive Officer.
“Gross Written Premiums (GWP) increased by 13pc to €660m (2024 €584m). This is comprised of €632m GWP from our general insurance business driven by strong growth in both personal and commercial lines and €28m GWP from our health insurance partnership with Level Health,” he said.
Despite a reduction in profit, the business continued to invest significantly during the year in digitisation, legacy system replacement, and AI, launching new products and distribution channels for customers, he said.
In terms of Insurance Reform, he said Ireland remains an outlier in Europe for both high compensation levels and high legal fees.
Recent independent comparisons published by government show minor-injury settlements in Ireland are around five times higher than in England and Wales, Aviva said.
“We call on government to continue its recent good work to finalise the benchmarking and reduce minor injury awards to sustainable, proportionate levels in line with international standards,” Declan O’Rourke said.
He also pushed government to introduce scaled legal costs in the Circuit Court.
Pushing down costs will feed through to lower insurance costs for customers, Aviva said.
“Reduced compensation levels for minor injuries and reduced legal costs will lead to reduced insurance costs and improved affordability for customers.”
Meanwhile, the boss of Aviva’s UK parent warned on Thursday that a lengthy conflict in the Middle East could send the cost of vehicle parts and repairs surging in an echo of the aftermath seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chief executive Amanda Blanc said the group has seen limited claims so far relating to the US-Israel war with Iran, but flagged the potential for claims costs to jump if supply chains are badly disrupted for a long time.
She said: “We have a good case study on this in terms of the Ukraine situation back in 2022 and the impact on the supply chain, which had an inflationary impact on vehicle parts and replacement vehicles.
“Obviously, if this goes on for a prolonged period of time, we would expect that this could have some impact, but to speak about this from an Aviva perspective, we are very well placed to manage that with our supply chain and our owned garage network.”
Ms Blanc added: “We will take action as necessary to make sure we look after our customers and price accordingly for any new inflationary impact.”
She said there had been “very limited” travel claims so far.
Full-year results from Aviva on Thursday showed annual earnings at group level up 25pc.
Earnings of £2.2bn (€2.53m) for 2025 were up from £1.8bn in 2024, including a £174m contribution from its recently acquired Direct Line arm.
Aviva unveiled a £350 million share buyback after putting these on hold due to the Direct Line deal, which completed last year.
source