Chubb sees Q2 income hold steady despite investment losses
Chubb has announced second quarter 2018 net income of $1.29 billion, a slight fall from the $1.305 billion for the same quarter last year.
Core operating income was $1.253 billion for the quarter, up from the $1.18 billion it made for the same quarter last year. The property and casualty (P&C) combined ratio was 88.4 percent.
According to the company it was unfavourably impacted by realised and unrealised losses of $407 million after-tax in the company's investment portfolio, driven by rising interest rates. In addition, foreign currency movement (FX) unfavourably impacted book value by $457 million after-tax and tangible book value by $200 million after-tax.
The quarterly results took Chubb to a first half 2018 net income total of $2.376 billion, a slight fall from the $2.398 billion it reported for the same period of 2017. Core operating income for the first six months of 2018 was $2.35 billion, compared with $2.355 billion, for the first half of 2017. The P&C combined ratio was 89.2 percent for the six months ended June 30, 2018. Again, the company was unfavourably impacted by net realised and unrealised losses of $1.345 billion after-tax in the company's investment portfolio. In addition, FX unfavourably impacted book value by $147 million after-tax and tangible book value by $64 million after-tax.
“Chubb's second quarter after-tax core operating income per share was up over 7 percent from prior year, driven by excellent underwriting and investment results,” said Evan Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Chubb. “Our 88.4 percent P&C combined ratio benefited from current accident year results and positive prior year reserve releases, while adjusted net investment income was up 4 percent.
“P&C net premiums written increased 5.6 percent in the quarter, with strong performances in many of our businesses globally such as our US commercial and personal lines divisions and our Asia and Latin America P&C operations, both of which generated double-digit growth. We are benefiting from contributions that are only possible because of the scale and capabilities created by today's Chubb. This includes a number of growth initiatives, by example, in our North American and international middle market and small commercial divisions, and the level of investment we are making in our digital efforts to improve our competitive profile.
“We are taking advantage of market conditions that continue to improve in the US and some territories outside the US with commercial P&C price increases this quarter in those locations the best we've seen in some time. We wrote more new business while renewing our customers at record retention levels. In sum, our organisation is running on all cylinders and we're optimistic about our ability to continue to perform at a high level.”
