W.R. Berkley Posts Record Year With Q4 Net Income Up 45%

Fourth quarter 2024 net income at W.R. Berkley Corp. jumped 45% compared to a year ago to about $576 million.

For the year, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based commercial insurer said it booked record income of about $1.8 billion compared to about $1.4 billion for 2023. Underwriting income for 2024 was also a record at about $1.1 billion, the company said.

Net premiums written in W.R. Berkley’s insurance segment were about $2.6 billion in Q4 2024, up from about $2.4 billion in Q4 2023. The combined ratio for the last quarter worsened 1.1 points to 90.5 compared to the same period a year ago.

W.R. Berkley said average rate increases excluding workers’ compensation were about 7.7% for Q4 and 7.9% for the year.

Catastrophe losses in insurance for the quarter were up – $35.6 million this year compared to $20.4 million in Q4 last year. Losses for the insurer’s reinsurance and monoline excess business were nearly $44 million in Q4 compared to $11.6 million last year during the same time.

The insurer’s consolidated combined ratio for the year was 90.3 or 0.6 points higher than 2023.