Chubb Limited has delivered first-quarter insurance results well ahead of Wall Street forecasts, even as chief executive Evan Greenberg (pictured above) warned that property and financial lines pricing was weakening at pace.

The insurer posted net income of US$2.32 billion, or US$5.88 a share, with core operating income reaching US$2.69 billion, or US$6.82 a share. Both figures jumped more than 74% year on year.

Core operating earnings per share beat the analyst consensus of US$6.60, while consolidated net premiums written of US$14.01 billion also cleared expectations of US$13.51 billion.

Chubb returned US$1.52 billion to shareholders during the quarter, buying back US$1.14 billion of its own stock at an average price of US$325.06.

A benign catastrophe quarter did much of the heavy lifting. P&C underwriting income surged more than fourfold to US$1.79 billion, lifting the combined ratio to 84.0% from 95.7% a year earlier. Pre-tax catastrophe losses fell to US$500 million from US$1.64 billion, a period dominated by the California wildfires that alone cost the insurer US$1.47 billion.

The swing was not Chubb's alone. Broker Gallagher Re estimates global insured catastrophe losses reached at least US$20 billion in the first quarter, 26% below the decadal average and 47% under the recent five-year mean. It was the fourth straight quarter in which aggregated losses came in below US$40 billion.

Stripped of catastrophes, Chubb's core operating income rose a more modest 10.7%, with earnings per share up 13.5%.

Greenberg signals caution

Greenberg struck a notably guarded tone despite the headline beat. The results, he said, reflected the group's strength "in a period of elevated uncertainty," with conflict in the Middle East raising "the spectre globally of higher inflation and slower economic growth."

He was blunter on pricing. Property and financial lines conditions were "soft or softening, with portions of the property market softening at a rapid pace," he said, prompting Chubb to walk away from parts of its shared and layered property book in Major Accounts and E&S, and to buy more reinsurance.

Howden Re data suggests the timing is fortunate: global property-catastrophe reinsurance rates fell 14.7% at the January renewals.

Consumer lines led P&C growth at 14.2%, against 4.6% for commercial. Overseas General premiums rose 14.4%, with Latin America up 17.8%, Europe 15.8% and Asia 12.1%.

Travelers sets the template

The pattern mirrors that of closest peer Travelers, which reported six days earlier. The rival American insurer posted a combined ratio of 88.6% and core earnings per share of US$7.71, with nearly all its 13.9-point combined ratio improvement tied to lower catastrophes.

Travelers also flagged a 50-basis-point deterioration in its underlying combined ratio, concentrated in commercial segments, an early read on the margin pressure Greenberg is now moving to pre-empt.

Previously reported, Greenberg's March shareholder letter outlined plans to "reduce [its] global employee population significantly" under an AI-led transformation. Chubb Digital grew 27% in 2025 to US$1.4 billion in premium, with Chubb Studio now tied to more than 250 partners.

Life Insurance income rose 8.5% to US$316 million. Annualised return on equity stood at 12.6%, and core operating return on equity at 14.0%.