(Adds 2019 profit outlook, further details on program,...

(Adds 2019 profit outlook, further details on program, background)

Dec 11 (Reuters) - Australia's QBE Insurance Group Ltd (QBE) on Monday announced a three-year operational efficiency programme targeting net cost savings of A$130 million ($93.57 million) in 2021, and it flagged better profits in 2019.

The country's third-largest listed insurer by market capitalisation also said it had completed the sale of its insurance operations in Puerto Rico, Indonesia and the Philippines as it makes good on its word to streamline business to be smaller and less complex.

QBE said its 2019 reinsurance programme had increased catastrophe protection for better profit outcomes in years such as 2017, when earnings were mauled by massive disaster claims.

"Reflecting the company's strengthened catastrophe protection, the new structure delivers a modest uplift in both our S&P and APRA (Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority) capital ratios," QBE said in a statement.

The insurer said its 2019 programme is expected to save around A$125 million in reinsurance costs but also flagged a rise in its allowance for large individual risk and catastrophe claims to around A$1.4 billion, up from about A$1.2 billion currently. Despite this increase, QBE expects higher overall profitability in 2019, compared with 2018.

The operational efficiency programme will incur around A$95 million of restructuring costs over 2019-20 and an expense ratio of around 14 percent by 2021, QBE said. ($1 = 1.3893 Australian dollars)