WR Berkely Turns in Record Underwriting Results for Q4, Year

Fourth quarter 2025 net income at W.R. Berkley Corp. decreased nearly 28% compared to the same period a year ago.

Net income was about $449.5 million for Q4 2025 compared to net income of about $576.1 million a year ago during the same period. Total operating costs and expenses during the period increased to about $1 billion from $897 million during Q4 2024.

Pretax underwriting income grew nearly 15% to $338 million for Q4 and was $1.2 billion for the year. Both are records, said WR Berkley. 2025 was the fifth consecutive year of record underwriting gains.

Operating income grew 9.5% to a record of $450 million. For the full year, Berkley said net income and operating income grew to records of $1.8 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.

The consolidated combined ratio for the Greenwich, Connecticut-based commercial insurer in Q4 improved to 89.4 from 90.2 last year during the same time. The company paid out catastrophe total losses of about $47.6 million. For Q4 2024, total catastrophe losses were $79.6 million.

The combined ratio in the insurance segment remained flat at 90.6. Net premiums written here increased to about $2.67 billion from about $2.62 billion.

The company’s reinsurance business turned in a combined ratio of 81—7.4 points better than Q3 2024.