Chubb Corp. reported that net income in the second quarter of 2014 fell to $499 million from $579 million in the second quarter of 2013 due to losses from severe weather and residential and commercial property fires.
Operating income was $418 million in the second quarter of 2014 compared to $463 million in the second quarter of 2013.
The impact of catastrophes in the second quarter was $146 million before tax in 2014 compared to $237 million before tax in 2013.
The second quarter combined loss and expense ratio was 90.0 percent in 2014 compared to 88.8 percent in 2013. The impact of catastrophes accounted for 4.8 percentage points of the combined ratio in the second quarter of 2014 compared to 7.9 points in the second quarter of 2013. Excluding the impact of catastrophes, the second quarter combined ratio was 85.2 percent in 2014 and 80.9 percent in 2013.
Chubb said its expense ratio for the second quarter of 2014 was 31.3 percent compared to 32.1 percent in the corresponding year-earlier quarter.
Net written premiums for the second quarter of 2014 increased 4 percent to $3.2 billion. Premiums were up 5 percent in the U.S. and up 1 percent outside the U.S.
Property/casualty investment income after taxes for the second quarter declined 4 percent to $275 million in 2014 from $286 million in 2013.
John D. Finnegan, chairman, president and chief executive officer said the results benefited from “strong premium growth and retention as well as excellent performance” in long-tail lines of business such as Professional Liability, Casualty and Workers’ Compensation. However, the results were “adversely impacted by catastrophe and non-catastrophe losses related to severe weather in the United States as well as an unusually high level of homeowners’ and commercial fire losses.