WR Berkley Corporation is reporting that gross premiums written rose from $2.6bn to over $3bn between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022, according to the company’s latest results.
The firm also said that gross premiums written jumped from $5.1bn to $5.9bn between H1 2021 and H1 2022. By its calculations, gross and net premiums written grew 14.7% and 16.9%.
It also said that underwriting income increased 32.6% to $268.2m and that the current accident year combined ratio before catastrophe losses of 2.5 loss ratio points was 86.2%.
A statement from the firm said: “The Company reported excellent results for the second quarter of 2022, principally due to strong underwriting income, with an 88.6% combined ratio and an 18.8% annualized operating return on beginning stockholders’ equity. The short duration of our investment portfolio tempered the impact of rising interest rates on the value of the Company’s fixed-maturity securities and consequently its book value.”
It added: “Net premiums written grew by nearly 17% as market conditions remained favourable for most lines of business. The majority of our businesses expanded, particularly in the E&S and specialty markets. After several years of compounding rate, most of our businesses are achieving or exceeding our target return on equity, and we are placing greater emphasis on exposure growth. In addition, this growth has driven further improvement in our expense ratio.”
The firm also said that core net investment income grew nearly 30% due primarily to higher yields.
It added: “Our investment funds, which are reported on a one-quarter lag, performed well despite challenging equity markets in the first quarter of 2022. We expect investment income will benefit further as interest rates continue to move higher.”
