Zurich useful US customers after the acquisition of units by AIG car insurance

Flags fly away Zurich Financial Services, Zurich. Photographer: Charles Ellena/Bloomberg

Zurich Financial Services AG, the insurer who scored more than a quarter of sales policy by the United States in the first nine months of this year, is adding customers at a unit purchased from American International Group Inc.

Zurich based Swiss city of the same name, bought U.S.-car insurance company bailed-out AIG last year to earn Internet sales. The drive, 21st century insurance co, competes with Warren Buffett of Geico Corp and progressive Corp. in selling directly to consumers rather than through an intermediary.

“We’re starting to see a very good growth, both from a new perspective-business and the ability to retain customers,” said Jeff Dailey, President of personal lines at farmers Group Inc., a subsidiary of Zurich who runs the 21st century, in an interview on 17 December. “We have really returned numbers of growth and maintenance back to where they were before AIG ran in his problems and actually up a little from that.”

Direct sales are becoming a larger part of the US market-car insurance. Progressive increase in Internet and phone sales as some customers circumvented through agents in a market of insurance of the United States has been declining for most of the past three years. GEICO increase of market share in 2009, year of data available, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Dailey, 53, will be promoted to chief operating officer of farmers on January 1 and destined to be chief executive officer, when you withdraw f. Robert Woudstra at the end of 2011, Zurich said last week in a statement.

Name change

Zurich has completed a rebranding of the business of the 21st century this year, to avoid the connections with the name AIG, said Dailey. The unit includes an automatic called AIG direct trade.

“Unfortunately, when AIG had all their problems, really rocked the business of AIG direct to the 21st century because most of their policies that have been marketed under the name of AIG,” he said. “Every time AIG has had an issue in news, took a hit in terms of our ability to sell new policies or even some of our clients, thinking that they were still insured by AIG.”

AIG, headquartered in New York, was once the world’s largest insurer. It was pushed to the brink of collapse in 2008 as housing market related investments soured. The company has accepted a bailout of the U.S. Government that has grown in value to 182.3 billion.

Revenue premium U.S. property and casualty insurers will probably increase next year for the first time since 2007 on a resumption of sales of personal automobile coverage, Fitch Ratings said in a report, 7 December.

“The automatic is starting modestly or marginally tick,” said Dailey. “You’re going to see drive back to historic inflationary tendencies that are on average 3 to 5 percent per year increases.”

Zurich Financial rose 0.4 percent to CHF 243.20 in Zurich, valuing the company at 35.6 billion francs (36.9 billion). The stock has gained 2.9% this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Noah Buhayar in New York at nbuhayar@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut in New York at dkraut2@bloomberg.net