Chubb Q2 2026: GAAP net income fell 3.8% to $2.85B on smaller private equity gains, while core operating EPS rose 18.2% to $7.26 with an 83.8% P&C combined ratio and record investment income.
Revenue
$15.8B
+6.6% YoY
Net income
$2.9B
-3.8% YoY
Diluted EPS
$7.30
-0.7% YoY
Overview: underwriting profit rose even as net income dipped
Chubb's second quarter of 2026 (the three months to June 30) shows the two sides of an insurer's earnings moving in opposite directions. The core insurance business — collecting premiums and paying claims — got more profitable. Its underwriting income (premiums earned minus claims and expenses) from property and casualty (P&C) insurance rose 18.8% to $1.94 billion. Net investment income also hit a record. But GAAP net income attributable to Chubb fell 3.8% to $2.85 billion, and diluted EPS slipped to $7.30 from $7.35.
Most of that gap comes from one line. In Q2 2025 Chubb booked large paper gains on its private equity holdings. Those gains sit in "Other (income) expense", which was an income item of $655 million a year ago and only $196 million this quarter. The 10-Q puts the pre-tax mark-to-market gain on private equity at $99 million, against $512 million a year earlier. Once that and other investment gains and losses are stripped out, Chubb's own core operating income measure rose 14.6% to $2.84 billion, or $7.26 per share, up 18.2% (figures from the July 21, 2026 earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K). Core operating income is a non-GAAP figure: net income without realized investment gains and losses and a few other items management treats as non-recurring.
Key metrics
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Total revenues
$15,816M
$14,836M
+6.6%
Net premiums written (consolidated)
$14,705M
$14,196M
+3.6%
Net premiums earned
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P&C combined ratio, current accident year ex-catastrophes
82.2%
82.3%
-0.1 pts
Pre-tax catastrophe losses
$475M
$630M
-24.6%
Favorable prior-period reserve development (pre-tax)
$283M
$249M
+13.7%
¹ From the Q2 2026 earnings release (8-K Exhibit 99.1). All other figures are from the Form 10-Q.
Year to date (six months): total revenues were $30,589 million (+8.5%). Net income attributable to Chubb was $5,174 million (+20.4%) and diluted EPS was $13.17, up from $10.63. The P&C combined ratio was 83.9%, against 90.4%. The first half of 2025 included $1.47 billion of California wildfire losses, so first-half catastrophe losses fell from $2,271 million to $975 million. That comparison explains most of the year-to-date earnings jump, not a change in the underlying business.
What the combined ratio says
The combined ratio is the insurer's scorecard for underwriting: claims plus expenses, as a percentage of the premiums earned. Below 100% means the company made a profit on its policies before counting any investment income. Chubb's P&C combined ratio was 83.8%, so for every $100 of premium about $16 was left as underwriting profit.
According to the 10-Q, the 1.8-point improvement from a year ago came from "lower catastrophe losses." Catastrophe losses (weather events and other disasters) fell to $475 million from $630 million. The underlying ratio tells you more about the business: it excludes catastrophes and any revisions to past years' claim estimates (the "current accident year ex-cat" ratio). That figure was 82.2%, against 82.3%, which the 10-Q describes as "relatively flat." In other words, underwriting quality held steady. Lighter storms did most of the work.
Reserve development: insurers set aside reserves for claims that haven't been paid yet. When those estimates prove too high, the release adds to profit ("favorable development"). Chubb released a net $283 million in the quarter. Within that total, active businesses had $441 million of favorable development, mainly in auto physical damage, property and workers' compensation. That was partly offset by $158 million of adverse development in the corporate run-off portfolio, which covers old business Chubb no longer writes, "primarily driven by adverse development for molestation-related claims." That charge was more than twice last year's $70 million. It is small next to quarterly earnings, but it is the one line where old liabilities are growing.
Premium growth by segment
Net premiums written (NPW) are the premiums Chubb keeps after passing some risk on to reinsurers. They show how much new and renewed business was written in the quarter.
Segment
Q2 2026 NPW
Q2 2025 NPW
YoY
Combined ratio Q2 2026
Q2 2025
North America Commercial P&C
$5,594M
$5,723M
-2.3%
85.4%
83.5%
North America Personal P&C
$2,054M
$1,938M
+6.0%
67.3%
73.5%
North America Agricultural
$776M
$733M
+6.0%
89.7%
89.1%
Overseas General
$3,990M
$3,620M
+10.2%
82.2%
90.3%
Global Reinsurance
$354M
$380M
-6.7%
76.1%
71.0%
Life Insurance
$1,937M
$1,802M
+7.5%
n/a
n/a
Segment figures are from the earnings release and match the 10-Q segment discussion.
Chubb is shrinking large-account property business on purpose. North America Commercial fell 2.3%. Middle-market and small-business premiums grew 8.9%, but major accounts and specialty fell 9.0%, and property and other short-tail lines there dropped 30.1%. The 10-Q says underwriting actions in large-account and excess-and-surplus (E&S) property cut commercial growth by 4.5 percentage points. CEO Evan Greenberg said in the release that pricing in these areas is "overly soft" and that Chubb "will not underwrite knowingly at a loss." The trade-off shows up in the ratios: with less property in the mix, this segment's underlying combined ratio rose, according to the 10-Q.
Consumer lines are growing. North America Personal grew 6.0% "driven by strong new business and retention, including positive rate and broad exposure," mainly in homeowners. Its combined ratio improved 6.2 points to 67.3%, helped by lower catastrophe losses, more favorable reserve development and lower underlying homeowners losses.
Overseas growth is partly currency. Overseas General premiums rose 10.2% in reported dollars but only 4.8% in constant dollars (converting last year's results at this year's exchange rates to remove currency swings). About half the headline growth came from a weaker US dollar, not more business. Latin America grew 15.6%, Asia 12.0% and Europe 5.1%. The combined ratio fell to 82.2% from 90.3% on lower catastrophe losses and more favorable reserve development.
Across the group, currency added about 1.6 points of growth. Consolidated NPW growth was 3.6% reported but 2.0% in constant dollars. Excluding large-account and E&S property, P&C premiums rose 6.3%.
Life: NPW rose 7.5% and segment income grew 9.0% to $332 million. International life was up 6.2%, with regular-premium traditional products up 12.4%. Premiums plus deposits reached $2.65 billion, up 14.4%.
Investments: the second profit engine
Pre-tax net investment income was $1,760 million, up 12.3%. The 10-Q attributes the increase "primarily due to higher average invested assets." Chubb holds the premiums it collects until claims are paid and earns a return on that pool. The release puts the portfolio at $175 billion, up 9% in a year. On a pre-tax basis, investment income nearly matched the $1.94 billion of P&C underwriting income.
Net realized gains were $162 million, similar to last year's $160 million. For the six months, though, realized results were a $245 million loss, driven by derivatives and fixed-income sales. Rate changes drove $357 million of pre-tax unrealized gains on the bond portfolio in the quarter, but $1,469 million of unrealized losses over the half. Those unrealized swings affect book value but not net income.
Book value and capital returned
Book value per share (shareholders' equity divided by shares outstanding) was $195.45, up 12.3% from a year earlier and 3.6% from $188.59 at December 31, 2025. Tangible book value per share (excluding goodwill and intangible assets) was $131.93, up 17.1% year on year, according to the release.
Buybacks: Chubb repurchased 2.99 million shares for $979 million in the quarter and $2.12 billion in the first half (10-Q, Note 13). Adding $395 million of dividends, the release puts capital returned in the quarter at $1.37 billion. Diluted shares averaged 391.3 million, down from 403.8 million, which is why core EPS grew faster (+18.2%) than core income (+14.6%). In May 2026 the board authorized a new $7.5 billion buyback, effective July 1, and shareholders approved a dividend of up to $4.08 per share a year, up from $3.88.
Takeaway: GAAP net income fell 3.8%, but that was mostly because a year ago Chubb booked about $400 million more in pre-tax private equity paper gains. The underwriting and investment businesses both improved, and core operating EPS rose 18.2%. That EPS figure was helped by lighter catastrophe losses and a 3% lower share count. The underlying combined ratio was flat at 82.2%, and premium growth was modest: 2.0% in constant dollars.
Outlook
Management gave no numeric earnings guidance. Greenberg said the growth penalty from exiting underpriced property "will dissipate going forward" but warned that soft pricing "is spreading to certain areas of casualty while financial lines also remain soft." Interest costs are rising too: after new bond issues in May and June, the 10-Q projects about $808 million of pre-tax interest expense for full-year 2026, against $398 million in the first half.
Our read: premium growth is likely to stay in low single digits in constant dollars while Chubb keeps shrinking large-account property. For the next few quarters, earnings growth depends mainly on three things: rising investment income from a larger portfolio, buybacks reducing the share count, and catastrophe luck. A flat 82.2% underlying combined ratio means underwriting margins aren't widening any more. The Q3 report covers the peak Atlantic hurricane months, so catastrophe losses are the main risk to next quarter's comparison. The recurring adverse development on molestation claims in the run-off book is worth watching too.