Zurich CEO says insurer may exceed its 2019 goals: Repubblica

(Reuters) — Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. will meet all the targets laid out in its business plan to 2019 and could even beat them, Chief Executive Mario Greco said in an interview published in an Italian newspaper Monday.

In the 2017-2019 period, Zurich plans to cut costs for a cumulative amount of $1.5 billion. In August it said it reached $900 million of the planned cost savings for end-2019.

“We are on track (on) all the goals (in our business plan) and we expect to meet them or even exceed all of them by the end of 2019,” Mr. Greco told La Repubblica. “The current business plan finishes at end-2019, but the strategy will remain the same and we will continue to develop it at an increasing speed.”

According to its business plan, Zurich also aims to reach a return on equity of more than 12% of its operating profit after tax.

Mr. Greco also told the Italian daily the group could partner with companies in sectors different from insurance — such as telecom services, cyber security and energy — to offer its policyholders wider insurance services.