Chubb Has Higher 3Q Profit Despite Storm Losses

By Michael Ha

NU Online News Service, Oct. 27, 1:00 p.m. EDT?The Chubb Corp. said premium growth, better underwriting profitability and improved investment income had increased third-quarter net income 40 percent to $364 million, up from $259.8 million in 2003.[@@]

Chubb, based in Warren, N.J., posted $3.025 billion for property-casualty net premiums written in the third quarter, a 6 percent improvement from the year-ago period. Excluding Chubb Re, premium growth from the year-ago period was eight percent. U.S. premiums grew six percent, while the non-U.S. premiums grew 11 percent, or four percent in local currencies.

The combined ratio for the third quarter was 93.3, improving from 96.6 posted during the third quarter in 2003.

Including $180 million in hurricane losses, catastrophe losses in the third quarter were $196.1 million, accounting for 6.7 percentage points of the combined ratio.

By comparison, there were $96 million of CAT losses in the 2003 third quarter, which represented 3.7 points of the combined ratio.

"Chubb had a terrific third quarter despite the severe hurricane season, with solid premium growth, excellent underwriting profitability and higher investment income." said Chubb Chairman and Chief Executive John Finnegan. "Going forward, we are continuing to execute our underwriting strategy, control expenses and focus on selectively growing the business in areas that offer the best profit opportunities."

Among individual company segments, Chubb's personal insurance unit net premiums written came in at $754 million for the third quarter, up nine percent from the year-ago period.

The personal insurance unit's combined ratio was up slightly, to 101.2, compared to 99.9 in the third quarter of 2003. Catastrophe losses in the third quarter accounted for 19 percentage points of the combined ratio compared to 10.7 percentage points in 2003.

Chubb said that excluding catastrophe losses, the personal insurance unit's combined ratio improved seven points to 82.2 for the third quarter.

Chubb's homeowners' line net premiums written grew to $443.2 million, up from $ 402.9 million one year ago. The combined ratio for the homeowners' line was 109.1, up slightly from 108.7 percent for the year-ago period. The third-quarter combined ratio for the homeowners' line included 32.1 points of catastrophe losses. Excluding catastrophe losses, the combined ratio was 77.

Personal auto insurance premiums grew six percent to $163.7 million for the quarter and had a combined ratio of 92.5, while other personal lines, which include valuable articles, excess liability and yacht insurance, grew 12 percent to $147.3 million and had a combined ratio of 88.

Chubb's commercial insurance unit net premiums written grew 10 percent to $1.12 billion. The combined ratio improved to 82.3 from 90.6 from the year-ago period. Third-quarter catastrophe losses accounted for 3.5 points of the combined ratio, compared to 2.9 points in 2003.

Chubb specialty insurance net premiums written grew two percent to $1.15 billion, and the combined ratio was 99.2, improving from 100.6 in the third quarter of 2003.

The executive protection operation's net written premiums grew six percent to $558.6 million, and the business had a combined ratio of 100.3.

Property-casualty investment income after taxes for the third quarter jumped 13 percent to $241.6 million, from $213.9 million in 2003. For the first nine months of 2004, property-casualty investment income after taxes increased 12 percent to $695.8 million from $619.1 million.

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Chubb Has Higher 3Q Profit Despite Storm Losses

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