Everest CEO Jim Williamson hails underwriting strength despite weaker Q2 combined ratio
Bermuda-based property & casualty re/insurer Everest reported a higher group combined ratio of 92% for the second quarter of 2026, as president and chief executive officer Jim Williamson said the company's underwriting performance demonstrated the strength of its repositioned business despite lower premium volumes across its core reinsurance and wholesale & specialty operations.
Combined ratio for what Everest calls “core businesses” — its separate reinsurance treaty and wholesale & specialty arms — worsened to 90% compared with 87% in Q2 2025. Reinsurance treaty CoR was 88.5% (84.9%) and wholesale & specialty was flat at 95.2%.
Core businesses earned $3.7 billion in gross written premium (GWP) in Q2, down 5.9% compared with a year ago ($3.9 billion), including a 9.1% reinsurance treaty GWP drop to $2.7 billion and a 1% wholesale & specialty decrease to $958 million.
The reinsurance treaty drop in GWP was primarily led by 25% decrease in casualty XOL, 22.8% in casualty pro-rata, 9.2% in property non-catastrophe XOL and 6.8% in property catastrophe XOL.
Despite the GWP drops, Everest president and CEO Jim Williamson (pictured) praised his reinsurance treaty team for delivering “another excellent quarter”, especially during the midyear renewals, where Everest outperformed on rate and terms of business, said Williamson.
For wholesale & specialty, the reduction in GWP was led by 16.7% decrease in workers’ compensation and 7.2% in specialty casualty. However, these were almost completely offset by a 10.1% increase in other specialty, 8.6% in professional liability, and 2.9% in accident & health.
“Our global wholesale & specialty business continues to see the benefits from our strategy to expand the portfolio in specialty lines and targeted international markets while delivering margin expansion,” Williamson said.
Over the past 12 months, Everest has transitioned from being a broad-market primary insurer to a “pure play” global re/insurer paired with a specialty/wholesale insurer.
Everest threw in the towel on its primary retail commercial insurance business in October, selling approximately $2 billion in renewal rights for its US retail commercial insurance business to AIG.
Following the retail exit, Everest’s insurance division has pivoted toward high-excess lines, wholesale, and niche specialty coverage such as renewable energy, marine, parametric solutions, and cyber risk.
“Everest delivered a strong quarter driven by meaningful contributions from both underwriting income across our core businesses ... The results this quarter show the strength of the franchise we have built and the benefits of our actions to strengthen underwriting performance as well as optimize the balance sheet,” said Williamson.
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