News: QBE UPDATE 1-Australia's QBE Insurance hikes premium outlook after strong first quarter

(Updates with catastrophe claims in paragraph 4 and 5, crop business outlook in paragraph 6, and Q1 trading in paragraph 7)

May 12 (Reuters) - Australia's QBE Insurance Group Ltd (QBE) on Friday marginally hiked its gross written premium (GWP) growth forecast for fiscal 2023 after a strong start to the year for premium growth and on expected increases in premium rates.

QBE, the country's biggest insurer by market capitalisation, now expects growth of around 10% in its constant currency GWP in fiscal 2023, up from its prior forecast of mid-to-high single digit growth.

Last year, QBE recorded GWP of $20.00 billion. QBE also added that it experienced "elevated" catastrophe activity through the beginning of the year underscored by cyclones and flooding events in New Zealand, as well as storms in North America and Australia.

From start of the year till April-end, QBE recorded net cost of catastrophe claims was around $480 million, while it had set aside $535 million in first-half catastrophe allowances.

It expects crop business' gross written premium to be about $4.0 billion in FY23, with net earned premium of around $1.4 billion.

For the first quarter ending March 31, GWP grew 11% from a year earlier, while total funds under management (FUM) ticked higher to $29.1 billion at first quarter-end from $28.2 billion in December-end. (([email protected]; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))