13 February 2019News

Arch Q4 results take $118.2m hit from cat events

Catastrophic events set the tone of Arch Capital Group's fourth quarter results, with the Bermuda re/insurer sustaining substantial losses and posting a lower net income year-on-year.

Estimated pre-tax net losses from accident year catastrophic events amount to $118.2 million, net of reinsurance and reinstatement premiums.

The figures are primarily attributed to Hurricane Michael and the California wildfires, along with some other minor global events.

Arch's net income for the quarter was $126.1 million, down from $203.5 million year-on-year.

However, for the full-year, Arch enjoyed a higher net income of $713.6 million, up from $566.5 million in 2017.

Gross premiums written by the reinsurance segment in Q4 were $409.3 million, 41.5 percent higher than the same period in 2017.

Overall gross premiums written for entire group were up 16.7 percent to $1.69 billion in the fourth quarter.

Arch's combined ratio in the fourth quarter was 87.8 percent, an improvement of 1.5 percentage points year-on-year.

Arch, which also writes mortgage insurance globally, increased its gross premiums written by 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The growth has been attributed primarily to an increase in US insurance in force and government sponsored enterprise (GSE) credit-risk sharing transactions, partially offset by a lower level of US single premium business and a decrease in Australian mortgage reinsurance business