According to executives, the carrier remains committed to enhancing underwriting profitability with the aim of achieving a targeted combined ratio of 95%. The net income reported for Q3 2023 reflects notable improvement compared to the net loss of $353 million in Q3 2022.
For the period ending September 30, 2023, the insurance group reported a net loss of $441 million, marking a significant increase from the net loss of $198 million recorded during the same period in the previous year. The impact of catastrophe losses for the first nine months of 2023 escalated to $4.5 billion, compared to $3.2 billion for the corresponding period in 2022.
In Q2 2023, Liberty Mutual experienced a net loss of $585 million, primarily attributed to “elevated” catastrophe losses, notably stemming from widespread wind and hail events in Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.
In October, layoffs were officially confirmed, impacting approximately 850 staff members, although these workforce changes are not yet reflected in the disclosed results.
Despite this organisational shift, Liberty Mutual reported a 2.6% growth in total net written premium (NWP) for Q3 2023 compared to Q3 2022, amounting to $12.2 billion. Over the first nine months of 2023, NWP increased by 1.6% in comparison to the same period the previous year, reaching a total of $35.2 billion.
Liberty Mutual president and CEO Tim Sweeney, said: “Solid underwriting results in our Global Risk Solutions business and the tailwind from rising net investment income helped offset continued pressure from inflation and severe weather impacting US personal lines.”
“Despite these challenges, the underlying combined ratio in US Retail Markets improved 2.4 points and we continue to take aggressive rate and non-rate actions to return that business to target profitability.
He added: “Global Risk Solutions continues to make progress toward its targets, with an improvement in the underlying combined ratio of 2.2 points compared to the prior year quarter.”
Author: Joanna England
