BERKLEY’S INCOME JUMPS 39% ON INVESTMENT RETURNS

US commercial property/casualty group WR Berkley saw fourth-quarter net earnings surge 39% to $152.8m, as higher investment returns offset a catastrophe-driven decline in underwriting results. The Connecticut-based group’s earned investment income rose 25% to $159.3m, while realised gains jumped to $77.6m from $12.6m. The group’s combined ratio added 1.8 points to 94.9%, as earned premiums increased 4.9% to $1.62bn but were outpaced by incurred losses, which climbed 7.6% to $993.5m. Cat losses for the quarter more than tripled to $36.8m. For all of 2016, net income grew 19.5%, reflecting a 10.1% rise in investment income to $564.2m and a more than doubling in realised gains to $285.1m. With earned premiums rising 4.2% to $6.29bn and incurred losses increasing 5.2% to $3.85bn, the combined ratio added 0.6 points to 94.3%. Cat losses for the year rose to $105.1m from $57.6m.