Chubb posts 'excellent' Q4 2020 results boosted by commercial lines

Property/casualty insurer  Chubb reported an "excellent" fourth quarter 2020, fueled by an uptick in net profit, underwriting margin improvement and double-digit commercial lines premium growth globally. However, its full year profit declined more than 20 percent compared to 2019.

Chubb's net profit for the full year 2020 came in at $3.53 billion, down 20.7 percent compared to the $4.45 billion it generated in 2019. In Q4 2020, the insurer reported a net profit of $2.42 billion, significantly up from the $1.17 billion reported in Q4 2019.

For the full year 2020 net premiums written for P&C were $31.3 billion, up 4.8 percent from $29.89 billion in 2019. P&C net premiums written were $7.77 billion in Q4 2020, up 5.4 percent from $7.37 billion in the same period of 2019. The company saw positive growth in commercial P&C lines globally in both the fourth quarter (11.3 percent) and full year 2020 (9.3 percent).

The combined ratio for P&C for the full year 2020 was 96.1 percent, compared with 90.6 percent previous year. For Q4 2020 the combined ratio was 90.5 percent, down from 105.4 percent in the same period in 2019.

Evan Greenberg, Chubb's chairman and chief executive officer, praised the "reasonably good results overall" given the remarkable and unprecedented events faced during the year. He also noted that all of the commercial P&C lines of business achieved rates that exceed loss costs.

Greenberg commented: "We are off to a good start in '21 with both growth and the level of commercial P&C rate increases resembling the underwriting conditions of the fourth quarter. With our leadership energised and our people focused, and given our full range of capabilities to bring to bear for our clients and business partners, we are confident in our ability to continue growing revenue and expanding underwriting margins."

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