Earnings

More than 100% of the reserve charge came from pre-pandemic years, as the slight release of $40mn that offset the full-year increase of $452mn was from 2020 to 2022 accident years.

The reserve strengthening was related to liability and professional lines related to 2019 and prior accident years, the firm wrote in a preliminary earnings disclosure.

The transaction would have been one of the largest the market has seen for years.

The broker’s Q4 programs reinsurance change led to a one-time $19mn charge that will allow it to reduce its PML exposure.

Strong results from Travelers without the anticipated reserving woes might be more reflective of the franchise than the overall industry trend.

Brown & Brown Q4 organic growth slows to 7.7% on programs deceleration

Shares rose to over $213 at one point – from their previous close of $198.35 – after this morning’s Q4 results, which included an 8.7 point combined ratio (CoR) improvement driven by a rebound in personal lines.

The carrier also renewed the 20% quota share with Fidelis, maintaining the same loss ratio cap the parties agreed in 2023.

The personal insurance segment’s CoR slashed to 86.8% from 105.3% in the prior year quarter, as the contribution of cat losses declined by 7.3 points to 2%.

The executives were speaking after Truist reported Q4 organic growth of 7.3%, accelerating from 6.3% in Q3 and 5.6% in Q4 a year earlier.

Reserves, loss cost inflation, and pricing trends would be front and center in what will be an overall good quarterly earnings season due to the lack of large losses.

Additional disclosure following the RenRe acquisition reveals results for both carriers for the nine months to 30 September last year.