Feb 12 (Reuters) - Insurance Australia Group IAG.AX on Thursday reported a 21% drop in its first-half cash earnings, hurt by higher claims expense and lower investment income, and announced a share buy-back of up to A$200 million.
Australia's top general insurer reported cash earnings of A$507 million ($361.29 million) for the six months ended December 31, down from last year's A$640 million, although it beat the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$464.7 million.
($1 = 1.4033 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com;Sneha.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com;))