Swiss Re Ltd. on Thursday reported group net income of $1.1 billion for the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $468 million for the same period a year ago, with profits hit by an expected $1.6 billion claims burden from natural catastrophes and large manmade disasters, the reinsurer said in its earning statement.

Property/casualty reinsurance reported net income of $634 million but was hurt by large loss events, Swiss Re said.

Life and health reinsurance delivered “strong” net income of $644 million mainly driven by large transactions in Canada and New Zealand, solid performance in Asia and Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and solid investment results with continued gross premium growth. Life Capital reported net income of $4 million.

Corporate solutions also saw continued gross premium growth, but large loss events led to a net loss of $5 million, Swiss Re said as net income was hurt by natural catastrophes and high frequency of large manmade losses. Third-quarter losses included the collapse of the Genoa Bridge in Italy, a shipyard fire in Germany and natural catastrophes, such as Hurricane Florence in the U.S. The combined ratio was 105.4%.

Gross premiums written for the first nine months were up 6.5% to $28.4 billion, primarily driven by premium growth across the group’s life and health businesses.

Property/casualty reinsurance net income for the nine months was “significantly affected by natural catastrophe and large man-made loss experience of USD 1.2 billion,” Swiss Re said, including losses due to windstorms, floods and the typhoons Jebi and Trami in Japan; Hurricane Florence and wildfires in the U.S., and storms in Canada.

The unit is on track to achieve its combined ratio estimate of 99.0%, assuming an expected average large loss burden in the fourth quarter.

“During the third quarter, we once again witnessed a series of natural catastrophes and large manmade disasters that devastated lives and disrupted businesses, particularly in Japan and in the U.S.,” Swiss Re Group CEO Christian Mumenthaler said in the statement.

These events lead to an estimated claims burden of $1.6 billion from natural catastrophes and large manmade losses.

Net income also reflected an estimated negative pre-tax impact of $144 million due to the previously reported U.S. generally accepted accounting principles guidance on recognition and measurement of equity investments that took effect on Jan. 1, 2018, Swiss Re said, adding that excluding the accounting guidance, net income would have been $1.2 billion.

“Following fairly benign catastrophe experience in the first half of the year, the claims burden of the third quarter was large for an individual quarter,” Swiss Re Group CFO John Dacey said in the statement. “The cumulative losses for the first nine months, however, are broadly in line with our year-to-date expectations.”

In addition, Thomas Wellauer, 63, currently group chief operating officer and member of the group executive committee, will retire at the end of June 2019. He joined Swiss Re in 2010 as group COO and has served as member of the boards of Swiss Re’s key subsidiaries in the U.S., Singapore and Luxembourg, and as CEO Switzerland, the statement said.

“After a prolonged period of benign loss years from 2012 to 2016, followed by heavy natural catastrophes last year, 2018 seems to be developing into what the overall industry would consider a normal year for losses,” Mr. Mumenthaler said in the statement.