Presumably, many insurers in the next couple of weeks will continue to announce very favorable quarterly and full-year earnings—the kind of numbers that could draw the attention of legislators and regulators.
Asked his thoughts on the potential for the implementation of some states’ excess profit laws, Chubb CEO Evan G. Greenberg said he was “sympathetic about the issue of affordability in the United States.”
“But I would be careful when politicians think about that issue of affordability, pointing to insurance as a culprit,” he told analysts during a recent conference call to discuss Chubb’s financial results for the fourth quarter and full year.
“We intermediate money,” he continued. “We don’t print money.”
Chubb’s North America personal P/C business recorded a Q4 combined ratio of 74.1 compared with 82.6 for the same period the prior year. P/C underwriting income finished 2025 up 11.6% to a record $6.5 billion and a combined ratio of 85.7—was another record.
Related: Chubb Posts Record Q4 and Full Year P/C Underwriting Income, Combined Ratio
Greenberg continued to explain that loss costs in the homeowners line are rising 7.5% to 8%, and liability “is a strong contributor to that.”
“That’s a problem with litigation,” he said. “That’s not an insurance-company problem.”
Of course, catastrophe losses also contribute to the pricing of insurance, but cat losses are measured over an extended time. A period of high cat losses in a particular state can be followed by a year of benign losses. Overall, Chubb in 2025 logged an increase in catastrophe losses compared with 2024.
“So I would be careful of politicizing the affordability question as you point to homeowners insurance or it is going to create an availability problem, and that will exacerbate affordability.”
‘All Over’ Data Centers
Later in the call, Greenberg was asked about Chubb’s participation in the so-called boom of data centers, as demand for digital infrastructure increases rapidly. Thousands of data centers worldwide could be built over the next five years, and investments in digital infrastructure are expected to hit about $3 trillion over the same time.
Related: Data Center Boom Offers Organic Growth Opportunities for Brokers
From an insurance standpoint, Greenberg said Chubb is “all over it.”
“We’ve been writing data centers (globally), and our capabilities are extremely broad,” he told analysts. He added that Chubb writes primary property, does the engineering for underwriting purposes, and can cover multiple risks such as marine, surety, general liability, and professional liability.
“We have large capacity we put at it,” Greenberg continued. “Others take shares [of the risk] behind us, generally. We are one of the few that writes insurance around the broad variety of exposures that those who are constructing data centers confront.”
“We have doubled down on how we are structured to bring all of the coverages—the services and engineering” for when brokers put together placements for data centers, he said.
Data centers face headwinds in terms of the affordability and availability of power needed to support them. Plus, the location of these centers, labor, and supply costs are added challenges. So while many projects are announced, “how much of this actually gets built and over what period of time remains a question,” Greenberg said.
Topics
Data Driven
Interested in Data Driven?
Get automatic alerts for this topic.
