Chubb first-half hits record.

(From Insurance Day)

Byline: Symon Ross

SUCCESS in both commercial and personal lines has pushed US property/casualty insurer Chubb Corporation's second-quarter and first-half results up to record levels.

For the first six months of the year, the insurer saw net income of $476.7m compared with $408.4m in the first half of last year. Operating income totalled a record $460.3m for the first half, which was up on $387.9m in the same period of 2002.

This was achieved despite catastrophe losses for the first half amounting to $165.5m, or 3.4 percentage points of the combined ratio. In the first six month of 2002 catastrophe losses totalled only $23.6m. Chubb's combined ratio for the first half of this year was 95.3%.

P/c net premiums written in the first half reached $5.3bn, an increase of 23%, while for the second quarter p/c premiums grew by 24% to $2.6bn. For the quarter US premiums grew 23% and non-US premiums were up 30%, or 20% in local currencies.

The company saw a 20% increase in net income to $252.1m in the second quarter of 2003 compared with last year's figure of $210.2m. Operating income, which the company defines as net income excluding after-tax realised investment gains and losses, increased 30% to a record $238.6m, up from $183.6m in the same quarter of 2002.