Travelers enjoys a profit jump in Q3
US insurer Travelers saw a rise in profits in the third quarter of 2014, driven by higher investment income and lower cat losses.
The insurer’s profits hit $919 million in the third quarter of 2014, an increase of 6 percent compared to $864 million in the prior year quarter. Travelers said that lower net favourable prior year reserve development and a slightly lower underlying underwriting gain partially offset higher net investment income and lower catastrophe losses.
Its combined ratio deteriorated slightly to 90 percent, compared with 88.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014.
“We are very pleased with our results this quarter,” said Jay Fishman, chairman and chief executive officer. “Our results were driven by strong underwriting performance across all of our business segments, as reflected in our consolidated combined ratio of 90.0 percent, and higher investment returns driven by private equity performance.
“Our return on equity and per share results continue to benefit meaningfully from our ongoing strategy of returning excess capital to shareholders. Year-to-date, total capital returned to shareholders was almost $2.9 billion, including over $2.3 billion in share repurchases and $553 million in dividends.
“As we continue to face persistently low interest rates and uncertain weather patterns, we remain focused on delivering superior profitability and returns on equity. Consequently, we remain committed to our highly segmented pricing and underwriting strategies, executing on an account by account or class by class basis.”
