Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Mike Zaremski: Very helpful.

Evan Greenberg: Yeah, you can go back and chew on that one. Thanks, Mike.

Operator: Your next question is from the line of Paul Newsome with Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

Paul Newsome: Good morning. Congratulations on the quarter. Just a couple of maybe follow-up questions. On the crop business, was there anything that was — that triggered the early recognition of the [indiscernible] prices or yields or anything that stuck out for the why the little bit of a change?

Evan Greenberg: No, not really, Paul. We just had better information. By the nature of this growing season, for instance, winter wheat — you know that in the third quarter, and winter wheat, as an example, is under pressure this year relatively. And so that goes into the loss ratio number. California had storm events and et cetera that revealed losses earlier. So, we just had better data to be able to adjust this year in the quarter than we — in the third quarter than we did last year where it really emerged very late, I think tail end of harvesting.

Paul Newsome: Okay, that’s great. And then different topics, a little bit on the reserve front. [indiscernible] and the other peers are talking about healthcare inflation being a good guy of late and helping out workers’ comp reserves, in particular. Are you seeing some of the same effects there as well where the healthcare piece, which crosses all sorts of things in your business, is coming a little bit better than expected?

Evan Greenberg: No. We’re — in fact, we’ve used, and we — not this quarter, we had done it in the past. We’ve reflected on a bit higher medical inflation trend, recognizing that medical inflation overall is more elevated. And what you see in a current period when you’re booking an accident year, is only so relevant because comp has a tail to it and medical has a tail to it. And so, you reflect that — at least here, we reflect that prudently and how we think about medical inflation when we construct our loss picks.

Paul Newsome: Appreciate letting me ask questions. Thanks for the help, as always.

Evan Greenberg: You’re welcome.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tracy Benguigui with Barclays. Your line is open.

Tracy Benguigui: Good morning. Real quick for clarification, your commentary about 13.9% pricing increases in North America commercial, that’s ex financial lines, right?

Evan Greenberg: Correct.

Tracy Benguigui: Okay. So keeping that in mind, it looks like we’re seeing strong but sequentially less momentum in property pricing. Is there seasonality to keep in mind? Otherwise, can you shed some light on the competitive environment, writing capacity entering, ability to pass on higher reinsurance costs or, to some extent, more retention of risk by insureds to contain costs?

Evan Greenberg: I don’t square with that comment. I believe I gave you like 23% in property. Property pricing remains extremely strong. So, you’re seeing something that we’re not seeing.

Tracy Benguigui: No doubt. 23% is great. I was just comparing that to 31.5% in the second quarter.

Evan Greenberg: No, it’s just — no, there’s nothing. This is volatility [quarter-to-quarter] (ph) depends what we might write a little more in commercial lines versus — in middle market versus what we wrote in E&S versus what we wrote in major accounts. But on a cohort for cohort, we’re not seeing a difference.

Tracy Benguigui: Okay. Very good. Also real quick, just a follow-up to David’s question. Was there any sizable workers’ comp offset to the $55 million adverse development you took for long-tail lines?

Evan Greenberg: There was in middle market, workers’ comp, not large account workers’ comp. This is the quarter that we study middle market.

Tracy Benguigui: Okay. But was it large enough where it might have been a larger charge you took in auto and excess liability, you might have seen a nice offset?

Evan Greenberg: I’m not — we don’t come out with parts and pieces, and so, we look at it, we roll it all together. But there was more in auto and excess together on a gross basis, and then there are other lines that are better. And so, you add it all together and it nets.

Tracy Benguigui: Okay. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question is from the line of Yaron Kinar with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Yaron Kinar: Thank you. Good morning, everybody. First question. So, we’re hearing from some executives that they’re voicing concern about medical loss environment looking ahead. While it’s currently benign, there is a concern that it may be picking up. So, how are you thinking about that with regards to both kind of prior accident year reserves and forward appetite? And honestly, I’ll leave it to you whether you want to discuss this on a company basis or what your views are with regards to the industry and how it has to approach this? And maybe even touch on which lines other than workers’ comp, that I think we’re all aware of, could be most impacted by that shift?

Evan Greenberg: Yaron, I think I just answered it. So, I’ll repeat myself. We adjusted our loss picks to reflect in our inflation numbers we use. We adjusted to reflect our view of higher medical inflation already, and we did that a number of quarters ago. And we’re steady in the use of that because we already raised it.

Yaron Kinar: Okay. And do you think the industry is in a relatively similar position?

Evan Greenberg: I don’t underwrite for the industry. So, I don’t see what the industry fix. I don’t know what each company fix. I can only manage Chubb. If everybody wants to give me their’s, I’ll find on it, but I don’t have much.

Yaron Kinar: Well, I guess I could maybe phrase it a different way. Since you have adjusted for this already, I would think that your pricing is also accordingly adjusted. Are you finding that your prices are still competitive with the industries? Or is the industry still essentially pricing for a lower loss inflation?

Evan Greenberg: I don’t see — you’re conflating two things. What people actually charge in the marketplace? And what their loss picks are, what their charge reflects? They may be reflecting the same things I reflect and they’re willing to underwrite to 100%. And I’m not. So, I can’t take that bait you’re putting out there.