German reinsurer Munich Re on Friday posted a 6% rise in net profit in the second quarter, defying expectations for a drop and lifted by low major loss claims.
- Net profit in the quarter of €2.211 billion ($2.55 billion) compares with €2.085 billion a year ago.
- Analysts had expected net profit of €1.786 billion.
- Major loss costs were “very low” at 4.9% of insurance revenue, compared with an expected 18%, Munich Re said.
- It said that it was sticking to its full-year profit target of €6.3 billion.
- It trimmed its insurance revenue forecast to €38 billion from €40 billion.\
Second quarter 2026 net income at insurer Chubb was down 3.8% compared to the same period in 2025 to about $2.85 billion, with property/casualty underwriting income up 18.8% to about $1.9 billion.
Pretax net catastrophe losses were $475 million compared to Q21 2025 losses of $630 million.
The P/C business ended Q2 2026 with a combined ratio of 83.8 compared with 85.6 the year prior.
Consolidated net premiums written (NPW) increased 3.6% to about $14.7 billion. P/C net premiums were up 3% to about $12.8 billion.
NPW decreased 2.3% in North America commercial. Without large account and E&S property, NPW was up 4.1% in Q2. Looking at major accounts retail and E&S wholesale, NPW was down 9% in Q2. Chubb said NPW would be up 0.4% excluding large account and E&S property.
The combined ratio for Q2 for North America commercial finished at 85.4 compared with 83.5 for Q2 2025. Chubb said 1.9 points were attributed to higher catastrophe losses.
In a statement, CEO Evan G. Greenberg said “overly soft underwriting conditions persist in certain areas of property insurance globally, particularly large account and E&S related.”
“We will not underwrite knowingly to a loss,” he continued, adding that the soft market is spreading to areas of casualty lines, and financial lines also “remain soft.”