Arch Capital Group Ltd.

will follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Before the company gets started with its update, management wants to first remind everyone that certain statements in today's press release and discussed on this call may constitute forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws. These statements are based upon management's current assessments and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. For more information on the risks and other factors that may affect future performance, investors should review periodic reports that are filed by the company with the SEC from time to time. Additionally, certain statements contained in the call that are not based on historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meeting of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company intends the forward-looking statements in the call to be subject to the safe harbor created thereby. Management will also make reference to certain non-GAAP measures of financial performance. The reconciliations to GAAP for each non-GAAP financial measure can be found in the company's current report on Form 8K, furnished to the SEC yesterday, which contains the company's earnings press release and is available on the company's website at www.archgroup.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. I would now like to introduce your hosts for today's conference, Mr. Mark Grandison and Mr. Francois Morin. Sirs, you may begin.

Thank you, Gigi. Good morning and thank you for joining our earnings call. Our fourth quarter results conclude another record year as we continued to lean into broadly favorable underwriting conditions in the property and casualty sectors. Our full year financial performance was excellent, with an annual operating return on average common equity of 21.6% and an exceptional 43.9% increase. in book value per share, which remains an impressive 34.2% if we exclude the one-time benefit from the deferred tax asset we booked in the fourth quarter. The $3.2 billion of operating income reported in 2023 made it ARCH's most profitable year to date. Growth was strong all year as we allocated capital to our property and casualty teams. We showed over $17 billion of gross premium and over $12.4 billion of net premium. And while most current growth opportunities are in the P&C sector, it's important to recognize the steady quality underwriting performance of our mortgage group. Although mortgage market conditions meant fewer opportunities for top line MI growth, the business unit continued to generate significant profits totaling nearly $1.1 billion of underwriting income for the year. As we have mentioned on previous calls, those earnings have helped fund growth opportunities in the segments with the best risk-adjusted returns, demonstrating that the disciplined underwriting approach and active capital allocation are essential throughout the cycle. Our ability to deploy capital early in the hard market cycle is paying dividends as we own the renewals. A phrase I learned from Paul Ingray, a personal mentor and foundational leader of Arch. What Paul meant was quite simple. When markets turn hard, you should aggressively write business early in the cycle. This puts your underwriters in a strong position to fully capitalize on the market opportunity. By making decisive early moves, you, one, become...

You grow alongside your clients who then want to do more business with you.