Arch announces profit spike for Q3 2019

Arch Capital Group has announced a third quarter 2019 profit of $382.1 million, a 76 percent increase on the $217.0 million it made for the third quarter of 2018.

After-tax operating income came to $261.0 million, again an increase on the $242.3 million it reported for the 2018 third quarter.

However, underwriting income declined slightly, falling by 1.4 percent from $234.6 million to $231.3 million over the respective periods.

Nevertheless, the quarter brings the company to a profit of $1.3 billion for the first nine months of the year, up on the $587 million it posted for same period of 2018.

Gross premiums written for the third quarter of 2019 totalled $2.2 billion, a 26 percent increase from the $1.7 billion that the company wrote in the same period of 2018. Net premiums written for the period came to $1.6 billion, again a 21 percent increase on the $1.3 billion written in the prior year quarter.

Pre-tax current accident year catastrophic losses, net of reinsurance and reinstatement premiums of $68.0 million, primarily related to Hurricane Dorian and Typhoon Faxai. The company also announced favourable development in prior year loss reserves, net of related adjustments of $51.7 million.

The company said that its combined ratio for the third quarter of 2019, excluding catastrophic activity and prior year development, was 80.9 percent, a slight fall from the 81.8 percent it reported for the same period of 2018.