Chubb Limited disclosed its financial results for the quarter ending December 31, 2024, showcasing significant gains. The insurer reported a net income of $2.58 billion, or $6.33 per-share, and a core operating income of $2.45 billion, or $6.02 per-share for the quarter. Despite a challenging backdrop marked by sizable losses in the investment portfolio and foreign currency fluctuations, Chubb maintained strong performance metrics across its core operations.
Quarterly Financial Highlights:
- Net Income and Core Operating Income: Reached $2.58 billion and $2.45 billion respectively, marking a pre-tax record of $3.05 billion and $3.00 billion.
- P&C Performance: Global Property and Casualty (P&C) net premiums written, excluding Agriculture, rose by 6.7%, with commercial and consumer insurance segments growing by 6.4% and 7.5% respectively.
- Underwriting Income: P&C underwriting income hit a record $1.58 billion, with a stellar combined ratio of 85.7%.
- Catastrophe Impact: Pre-tax catastrophe losses totaled $607 million, which included significant impacts from Hurricane Milton.
- Investment Income: Pre-tax net investment income was $1.56 billion, setting a new record with a 14.0% increase.
Annual Financial Highlights:
- Annual Growth: Net income for the year was a record $9.27 billion, up 2.7%, with core operating income closely trailing at $9.20 billion.
- Premiums Written: Global P&C net premiums written saw an uplift of 9.6%, driven by robust performance in both commercial and consumer lines.
- Life Insurance: Net premiums written in Life Insurance were $6.33 billion, up by 15.7%, with segment income reaching a record $1.10 billion.
- Investment Returns: Adjusted net investment income grew by 19.3% to $6.38 billion, reflecting strong management of portfolio assets.
- Return on Equity: Annualized return on equity stood at 15.0%, with core operating return on equity at 14.3%.
Executive Commentary:
Evan G. Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Chubb, commented on the results and the broader market conditions: “The California wildfire disaster is a terrible tragedy that is still unfolding. Our colleagues have been on the ground from the beginning, endeavoring to assist our policyholders who have lost property, been displaced from their homes and businesses, and had their lives severely disrupted. While it doesn’t erase the enormous difficulty they have and will continue to experience, we are doing all we can, in small and big ways, to ease their burden. Our thoughts are with those who have suffered, and our gratitude goes to those firefighters and emergency workers who have served tirelessly.
“From a financial perspective, our current estimate of the cost of supporting our customers and helping them recover and rebuild from this catastrophe is $1.5 billion net pre-tax and is a first quarter 2025 event.
“Turning to our fourth quarter 2024 and full-year results, we had a great quarter which contributed to a simply outstanding year. Global P&C premium growth, which excludes agriculture, was 6.7%, with commercial lines up 6.4% and consumer up 7.5%. Record P&C underwriting income with a world-class combined ratio of 85.7% and record investment income led to core operating income up 9.4% on a pre-tax basis, or 10.5% per share. On an after-tax basis, adjusted for the one-time Bermuda tax benefit we received last year, operating income of $2.5 billion was up 7.7%, or $6.02 per share, up 8.7%.
“Our full-year performance was the best in our company’s history. Core operating income was $9.1 billion, up 11.5% adjusted for the one-time tax benefit, and 13% on a per-share basis. All three major sources of income for our company produced record results last year: P&C underwriting income of $5.9 billion was up over 7% with a published combined ratio of 86.6%. Adjusted net investment income grew 19.3% to $6.4 billion. And life insurance income topped $1 billion. Global P&C net premiums grew 9.9% and life insurance premiums were up 18.5% in constant dollars. For the quarter and year, our core operating ROE was 14.3% and 13.9%, respectively, and our return on tangible equity was 22.0% and 21.6%. For the year, per-share book and tangible book value grew 8.8% and 14.1%, respectively.
“Overall market conditions are quite favorable, and we see really good growth opportunity for over 80% of our global P&C business, commercial and consumer, as well as our life business. We have very good momentum as we enter ’25 and are optimistic about the year ahead, both top- and bottom-line, CAT losses and foreign currency movement notwithstanding. We are confident in our ability to continue growing operating earnings and EPS at a double-digit rate, driven by our three major sources: P&C underwriting, investment income, and life income.”
