Insurer and pensions specialist Swiss Life yesterday recorded a near doubling of its first half net profit with sharp growth in business in major European markets.

The company said cost-cutting measures were also bearing fruit as six month net profit reached CHF 269 million (€200 million), up 93.5 per cent over the same period last year.

Premiums and policy fees grew nearly 18 per cent to CHF12.2 billion, with strong operational growth in France and Germany.

“Our first-half performance shows that we are on track with our 2012 targets,” chief executive Bruno Pfister said in a statement.

“Although we face great challenges because of the low interest rate environment and tougher competition, we are confident that we will achieve our goals for 2010,” he added.

Operating profit jumped from CHF10.3 billion to CHF20.4 billion.

Swiss Life annual net profit slumped by nearly a fifth to CHF277 million during a year of job cuts in 2009, hurt by losses incurred by the German subsidiary, AWD, after an even sharper fall in 2008.