Global insurer and reinsurer Everest Group recorded a pre-tax underwriting loss of $223 million for Q3 2026, as net adverse prior year reserve development of $253 million, including gross casualty reserve strengthening of approximately $600 million, and catastrophe losses of $277 million, pushed its Reinsurance Treaty segment to an underwriting loss of $191 million.
Group-wide, Everest generated Q3’26 net income of $233 million, down slightly on the prior year’s $255 million, as net operating income decreased to $290 million from $316 million.
Across all reportable segments, gross written premiums (GWP) decreased 15% year-on-year to $3.7 billion, as net written premiums (NWP) fell 21% to $3 billion, and net premiums earned (NPE) contracted by 18% to $3.2 billion.
For the re/insurer’s core business, which includes the Reinsurance Treaty and Global Wholesale & Specialty segments, GWP decreased 3% to $3.7 billion, NWP fell by 12% to $2.9 billion, and NPE decreased 11% to $2.9 billion.
Within Reinsurance Treaty, GWP decreased more than 6% year-on-year to $2.7 billion in Q3’26, driven by decreases of 24.8% in Casualty XOL and 15.8% in Casualty Pro-Rata, while property decreased 1.8%, when adjusting for reinstatement premiums. The segment’s NWP fell 15% to $2.2 billion, and NPE declined by 13% to $2.2 billion.
As mentioned, Reinsurance Treaty booked unfavourable reserve development of $253 million in the quarter, compared to favourable development of $16 million a year earlier. This includes $600 million of additional gross casualty reserve strengthening, which is on top of the $200 million of reserve strengthening in Q2’26.
Alongside the reserve strengthening in casualty, the firm booked pre-tax catastrophe losses of $277 million, net of estimated recoveries and reinstatement premiums, driven mostly by losses from the Colombia Earthquake and events in the Middle East, as well as a number of weather-related losses globally. This compares with cat losses of just $43 million in Q3’25.
As a result of the losses and reserve strengthening, Reinsurance Treaty’s combined ratio deteriorated by 21.5 percentage points year-on-year to 108.5% in Q3’26, while the attritional combined ratio strengthened by 1.1 percentage points to 84.9%.
Partially offsetting the underwriting loss in Reinsurance Treaty, the carrier’s Global Wholesale & Specialty segment generated underwriting income of $19 million with a combined ratio of 97.3% in Q3’26, which is above the prior year’s 95.5%. The segment’s attritional combined ratio increased slightly to 93.7% from 93.4%.
Everest opted to grow its Global Wholesale & Specialty portfolio in the quarter, increasing GWP by more than 3% to $948 million, while NWP fell by 2% to $747 million, and NPE fell by 4% to $705 million. The growth in GWP includes increases of 27.5% in Financial Lines, 21.5% in Specialty, and 19.7% in Casualty, partially offset by decreases of 21.4% in Facultative, and 6% in Property.
The segment’s results include pre-tax catastrophe losses of $25 million, net of estimated recoveries and reinstatement premiums, which is up on the prior year’s $6 million.
Turning to the company’s Legacy business, which now includes Everest’s commercial retail insurance business following the announcement of the commercial retail insurance renewal rights transaction, GWP totalled $79 million, NWP $57 million, and NPE $208 million, with an underwriting loss of $51 million.
Everest explains that NPE in the quarter were largely driven by the commercial retail insurance business, which remain on track with the firm’s expectations following the announcement of the renewal rights transaction.
In terms of investments, Everest generated net investment income of $634 million in the third quarter of 2026, an increase on the prior year’s $540 million.
Jim Williamson, Everest President and CEO, said: “This quarter Everest generated an annualized total shareholder return of 14.2% as we executed on a number of initiatives including strengthening the balance sheet, accelerating capital return, and positioning the Company for its next chapter.
“Our Reinsurance Treaty team is navigating the market cycle with the highest level of discipline, while leveraging its expertise and competitive advantages to maintain our focus on bottom-line results. Our Global Wholesale & Specialty business continues to generate momentum with strong profitable growth in specialty lines and targeted international markets. Our high-quality investment portfolio contributed $634 million in net investment income. As we approach the final stretch of the year and head into 2027, we are focused on executing our strategies across our Core businesses and proactively deploying capital, where share repurchases remain a top priority.”
For the first nine months of the year, Everest delivered net income of $1.5 billion, which is above the prior year’s $1.2 billion. Operating income increased to $1.6 billion in 9M’26 from $1.3 billion in 9M’25, and net investment income rose to $1.7 billion from $1.6 billion.
For the core business, 9M’26 GWP totalled $10.8 billion, a reduction of more than 5% year-on-year, as NWP fell by 11% to $9 billion, and NPE fell by 8% to $9.3 billion.
Treaty Reinsurance GWP decreased by 7% year-on-year to $8.1 billion for 9M’26, as NWP declined by 14% to $6.8 billion, and NPE fell by 9% to $7.2 billion. The segment’s 9M’26 combined ratio deteriorated by 2.3 percentage points to 94.3%. Pre-tax net catastrophe losses for the period amount to $442 million, which is lower than the prior year’s $489 million.
Within Global Wholesale & Specialty, 9M’26 GWP increased 2% to $2.7 billion, while NWP was flat at $2.2 billion, and NPE decreased by 3% to $2.1 billion. The segment’s combined ratio improved slightly to 96% for 9M’26, despite catastrophe losses increasing to $65 million from $25 million in 2025.
