Harel Insurance Reports 30% Profit Surge Driven by Investments and Credit Growth
Harel Insurance announced a 30% increase in its total profit for the second quarter, reaching one billion shekels. The company reported a return on equity of 37% for the quarter. This profit growth was attributed to higher investment returns and core earnings growth, particularly in asset management, credit, and capital sectors, which saw a 68% rise due to increased managed assets and credit portfolio expansion.
For the first half of the year, Harel's total profit grew by 19% to 1.6 billion shekels, with a return on equity of 27%. Core insurance profits before tax amounted to 699 million shekels for the quarter, a 4% increase compared to the same period last year. However, core insurance profits before tax for the half-year decreased slightly to 1.32 billion shekels from 1.36 billion shekels the previous year, mainly due to higher life and health insurance claims in the first quarter, partially offset by improvements in general insurance profits.
The company continued to increase its future profit reserves (CSM) to 17.7 billion shekels by the end of June, driven by new sales of growth products such as life risk, medical expenses, and critical illness insurance. The future profit value from new sales in the first half reached 992 million shekels, a 23% increase over the previous year, indicating significant value creation from new business.
In asset management and credit, core profits rose sharply. Asset management profits increased by approximately 58% to 131 million shekels, supported by growth in assets under management, which reached about 498 billion shekels by mid-year, up 48 billion shekels in six months. Credit core profits grew by about 32% to 79 million shekels, with the credit portfolio expanding to 8.8 billion shekels, a 2.3 billion shekel increase over the past year.
Globus also launched a new service providing full transcripts of investor conference calls for companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, aiming to offer transparent insights into company operations beyond financial reports. These transcripts are produced using AI tools followed by human review and are published within hours to a day after financial reports release.
