Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has reported a 20.7% rise in result before taxes to €641.5m for the first half of 2026, driven primarily by a strong total capital investment result and an improved net combined ratio.

All segments generated positive results before taxes. The highest percentage increases came from Extended CEE, up 98%, followed by Special Markets, up 35.4%, and Austria, up 11.2%.

Insurance service revenue rose 7.1% to €6.85bn, supported by growth in life insurance without profit participation of 18.2%, unit and index-linked life insurance of 10.7%, and health insurance of 8.8%. Gross written premiums reached €9.03bn, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, with the strongest growth again in life insurance without profit participation, at 18.4%. That increase was primarily driven by the core CEE market, which recorded growth above the overall average.

By country, Poland recorded premium growth of 8.3%, Czechia followed with 8.1%, and Extended CEE 6.4%. Austria also contributed to the core market’s development, with a 3.6% increase in premiums.

The net combined ratio improved to 91.4%, strengthening by 0.5 percentage points from 91.9% in H1 2025, driven by lower claims. The contractual service margin totalled €6.32bn as at 30 June 2026, up 1.4% year on year, comprising mainly long-term life and health insurance and reflecting higher interest rates and new business.

On the investment side, VIG’s total investment portfolio rose 4.1% to €49.1bn as at 30 June 2026, up from €47.2bn at 2025 year-end. This was largely due to higher market values of investments measured at fair value and substantial new investments.

Hartwig Löger, chief executive officer of Vienna Insurance Group, said the results continued the group’s growth trajectory.

“With its results for the first half-year of 2026, Vienna Insurance Group continues its profitable growth trajectory and dynamic growth in its core market Central and Eastern Europe,” said Löger. “We managed to improve all our key performance indicators and continue to maintain a strong capital position even after the acquisition of NÜRNBERGER Versicherung. We therefore reaffirm our outlook of achieving a result before taxes of between EUR 1.25 and EUR 1.30 billion (excluding NÜRNBERGER) for the 2026 financial year.”

VIG’s solvency ratio remained high at 272%, including transitional measures, at the end of H1 2026. The group confirmed its outlook of a result before taxes of between €1.25bn and €1.30bn, excluding NÜRNBERGER, for FY 2026.

VIG also completed the acquisition of NÜRNBERGER, the largest transaction in its history, on 18 May 2026.

“NÜRNBERGER enriches our broad portfolio of companies with its strong brand and supports our sustainable growth strategy in the core market CEE by expanding our diversification through the German market,” added Löger. “We are placing a strong emphasis on developing and implementing an IT transformation strategy as part of the ongoing transformation efforts at NÜRNBERGER. Our goal is to use this to offer our customers and sales partners even more effective, sustainable products and services.”