Evan Greenberg
Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead
Good morning. Let me begin with a few words around the external environment. There is currently a great deal of uncertainty and confusion surrounding our government's approach to trade, it's impacting business and consumer confidence as well as our image broadly. The odds of recession have risen substantially and higher inflation is all but certain, to what degree is an open question. We have competing priorities between our stated trade, economic, and fiscal objectives and coherence of policy has yet to emerge. I hope we can reach agreements on trade, reduce or eliminate tariffs, and reconcile our priorities quickly. Certainty and predictability are jacks to open for confidence, growth and the image of our country as a leader, a reliable partner, and a place to do business. As you saw from the numbers, we had a good first quarter, considering the significant catastrophe losses we incurred in the California wildfires. In terms of revenue growth, the headline number was impacted by foreign exchange due to a strong dollar, which has since weakened substantially and one-time premium-related items in our North America business. We produced $1.5 billion in core operating income, and it was down 31%, but it was supported by excellent underlying underwriting results, double-digit growth in investment income and strong life insurance income. Total company premiums grew 5.7% in constant dollars. Our published combined ratio was 95.7% with underwriting income of $441 million, a notable result given $1.6 billion of CAT losses. Calendar year underwriting income was supported by a current accident year combined ratio of 82.3%, a nearly 1.5 point improvement from prior year. Excluding CATs, current accident year underwriting income was up 12%. Additionally, we had favorable prior year reserve development of $255 million. On the asset side for the quarter, adjusted net investment income was $1.7 billion, and it was up 12.7%. Our fixed income portfolio yield is 5% and our current new money rate is averaging 5.5%. Tariffs in the federal budget deficit impact interest rates, the yield curve, spreads, asset values, and the dollar in ways that are not good for our country. As a company, we are predominantly buy-and-hold fixed income investors and benefit from higher yields, and as a multinational, our revenue and income benefit from a weaker dollar. In the quarter, our alternative investments produced modestly lower-than-usual private equity distribution related income. It's a combination of simply normal volatility and financial market conditions. Our annualized core operating return on tangible equity in the quarter was 13%. Peter is going to have more to say about the financial items. As you saw in the first quarter, we announced an agreement to acquire Liberty Mutual's Business in Thailand and Vietnam. The two companies offer a range of consumer and commercial P&C products with distribution through 56 branches and 2,600 brokers and agents, both fit well with our own business. The combined operations produced about $275 million in premiums in 2024, over 90% of which is in Thailand. For perspective, Thailand is now over $1 billion in premium revenue for Chubb, non-life and life, and we're among the leading P&C companies in the country once the entities are merged, in fact, we'll be number four. We closed Thailand on April 1st and expect to close Vietnam by early '26. Now turning to growth. Pricing and the rate environment. P&C revenue grew 3.2% in the quarter, 5% in constant dollars, with commercial up 4.6%, consumer up 6%. Adjusting for the one-time items in North America, P&C premium revenue grew over 6.5% in constant dollar. All regions of the world contributed favorably. Premiums in our life insurance division grew over 10%. In terms of the commercial P&C underwriting environment, large account related short-tail business, both admitted and E&S, is growing quite competitive. A lot more capital is chasing the business, prices are softening. We are, of course, disciplined and we're not going to write business below a technically adequate price. On the other hand, middle-market and small commercial property, both admitted retail and non-admitted wholesale or E&S, remain much more disciplined and orderly. Rates, in fact, continue to rise, and we are growing in this area. Casualty continues to firm in all areas that require REIT, retail and E&S, a large account, middle-market, and again, we're growing. Financial lines remain soft. With that as backdrop, I want to give you some more color by division and we'll start with North America, where premiums were up 3.4%. Growth again was impacted by the two one-time items I mentioned, reinstatement premiums related to the California wildfires and personal insurance and larger than usual one-off structured transactions, I think, loss portfolio transfers written last year in our major accounts commercial division. Adjusting for both, North America was up 6.4%, including growth of 10.1% in personal insurance, 5.3% in commercial. Commercial P&C lines were up 6.4% and financial lines were down 1.3%. Looking through those one-time items is a more representative view of our run rate growth for North America commercial P&C. Premiums in our very large middle-market division increased almost 8%, an excellent result. P&C up over 10% and financial lines down about 2%. Premiums in our major account and specialty division declined 1.7% and adjusting for the one-time transactions, they were up 3.1%, 3.6% in P&C and financial lines down 1%. Major in specialty is comprised of E&S business, which was up 10.7% and our major accounts retail business, which was down 1.3%. Overall, commercial pricing for property and casualty, excluding fin lines and comp, was up 8.3% with rates up 6.4% and exposure change of 1.8%. Going a step further, property pricing was up 3.1% with rates down 0.7%, offset by exposure change of 3.8%. For property, pricing was down 9.6% in large account business, both admitted and E&S and up 10.2% in middle and small, again, both admitted and E&S. Casualty pricing in North America was up 13.4% with rates up 12.6% and exposure up 0.7%. Financial lines pricing was down 3.2% and that's all rate. In comp, primary comp pricing was flat while large account risk management was up 7.5%. In North America Commercial, our selected loss cost trend has declined modestly from 6.8% in '24 to 6.5%, with casualty running 8.9% and property 4.5%. We are mindful of a potential impact tariffs could have on short-tail lines of business and are watching closely. On the consumer side of North America, our high net-worth personal lines business had another very strong quarter with premium growth of 10.1% adjusted for the reinstatement premiums. New business growth was almost 20%. Premiums in our upper high net-worth segments grew over 16%. Homeowners' pricing was up 12.5% in the quarter and ahead of loss costs, which are running 8.7%. Turning to our international general insurance operations. Premiums were up 1.8% or 6.5% in constant dollar. The dollar was considerably stronger in the first quarter versus a year ago, but substantially declined in value versus major currencies in recent weeks. In the quarter, international commercial lines grew about 7.5%. Consumer was up 5%. From a region of the world perspective, Asia and Latin America, both grew 6.1%, while Europe grew 5.5%, including growth of 6% on the continent, while premiums in our London wholesale business were up nearly 8%. In our international retail commercial business, P&C pricing was up 2.6% and financial lines pricing was down 5.5%. Loss cost trends in international retail were in fact down 80 basis points from '24, 5.8% to 5%. Our global reinsurance business had a strong quarter with premium growth of 14%. In our international life insurance business, which is fundamentally Asia, premiums and deposits were up 15.5% in constant dollar. And in combined insurance company, our US worksite business grew 18.6%. Our life division produced over $290 million of pre-tax income in the quarter, up 15.7% in constant dollar. In summary, we are in the risk business, volatility is a feature, while we are impacted by the wildfires, our underlying fundamentals are excellent. We had a good quarter. And as I observed at the beginning of the year, about 80% of our global P&C business, commercial and consumer, and our life business are very good growth prospects. In fact, when you listen, as I read to you and described going across divisions, the growth rate of the various businesses, FX aside, I think that speaks to the broad nature and the 80% I'm talking about. There is a lot of opportunity and I'm mindful that the external environment has become more uncertain. I have confidence in what we can control. In that regard, in our ability to continue growing operating and earnings and EPS at a double-digit rate. That's an FX notwithstanding. I'm going to turn the call over to Peter and then we're going to come back and take your questions.