CNA CEO Robusto Asserts ‘Heightened Underwriting Focus’ Helped Produce Solid Results

CNA sustained a dip in net income and took a catastrophe cost hit at the end of 2017, but the insurer saw its combined ratio actually improve. What’s more, its 2017 net income of nearly $900 million was higher than the year before.

“The strength of our fourth-quarter and full-year results combined with our heightened underwriting focus and execution provide excellent momentum going into 2018,” CNA Chairman and CEO Dino Robusto said in prepared remarks.

CNA reported $223 million in net income, or $0.82 per diluted share in the 2017 fourth quarter, versus $241 million, or $0.89 per diluted share during the same period in 2016. For the year, CNA booked $899 million in net income, or $3.30 per diluted share, up from $859 million, or $3.17 per diluted share in 2016.

Here are highlights of CNA’s results:

• Property/casualty net written premiums hit $1.6 billion for Q4, versus more than $1.5 billion in the 2016 fourth quarter. P/C operations produced a combined ratio of 94, an improvement over 99.9 from the same, year-ago period. CNA said that favorable net prior period development helped improve the loss ratio.

• P/C net investment income was $305 million for the unit, down from $322 million in Q4 2016.

• For the business division, specialty net written premiums were $671 million for the 2017 fourth quarter, virtually unchanged from $672 million in the 2016 fourth quarter. The combined ratio reached 89.6, worsened from the 85.6 number achieved in the same, year-ago period.

• Commercial net written premiums for Q4 landed at $713 million, higher than the $669 million fixture achieved in Q4 2016. The commercial insurance combined ratio was 95.1 for the quarter, an improvement over the 100.8 combined ratio from the 2016 fourth quarter.

• International insurance generated $217 million in net written premiums during Q4, better than the $184 million produced over the same period in 2016. The combined ratio was 96.7, but that worsened from an 86.1 combined ratio due mostly to catastrophe costs.

• Net investment income came in at $366 million after tax for Q4, down a bit from $379 million in the 2016 fourth quarter. For all of 2017, net investment income surpassed $1.46 billion compared with $1.4 billion in 2016. Limited partnership helped drive the 12-month increase, CNA said.

Source: CNA