CNA Financial Corporation

Good morning and welcome to CNA's discussion of its 2021 fourth quarter financial results. CNA's fourth quarter earnings release presentation and financial supplement were released this morning and are available via its website www.cna.com. Speaking today will be Dino Robusto, CNA's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Larry Hafner, CNA's Interim Chief Financial Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. Today's call may include forward-looking statements and references to non-GAAP financial measures. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to defer materially from the statements made during the call. Information concerning those risks is contained in the earnings release and in CNA's most recent SEC filings. In addition, the forward-looking statements speak only as of today, Monday, February 7th, 2022. CNA expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made during this call. Regarding non-GAAP measures, reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures and other information have been provided in the financial supplement. This call is being recorded and webcast. During the next week, the call may be accessed on CNA's website. If you are reading a transcript of this call, please note that the transcript may be reviewed for accuracy. thus it may contain transcription errors that could materially alter the intent or the meaning of the statements. With that, I will turn the call over to CNA's Chairman and CEO, Dino Robusto.

Thank you, Tracy, and good morning. In the fourth quarter, we continue to effectively leverage the favorable market conditions and achieve strong quarterly results, which topped off a great year with record core income. Before I provide details, let me offer a few highlights on both periods. Our gross written premiums, excluding our capital business, grew by 16% in the fourth quarter and 10% for the full year. Importantly, the overall P&C rate increase remained at 8% in the fourth quarter, consistent with the third quarter, leading to a full year rate increase of 9%, which was well above long-run loss-cost trends. The all-in combined ratio was 92% 0.9% for the quarter and 96.2% for the year, each representing the best ratios in five years. Our underlying combined ratio was 91.2% for the quarter and a record low of 91.4% for the full year. All of this led to record core income of just over $1.1 billion for the year, up 50% in core EPS of $4.06 per share. Drilling down on the details, starting with the fourth quarter, our P&C operations produced core income of $353 million, or $1.29 per share. Our life and group segment produced core income of $6 million, and our corporate and other segment produced a core loss of $94 million, mainly impacted by a non-economic charge related to asbestos and environmental. As usual, Larry will provide more details on life in group and the corporate segments. In the fourth quarter, the all-in combined ratio was 92.9%, a half a point lower than the fourth quarter of 2020 and the lowest all-in quarterly combined ratio since 2016. Pre-tax catastrophe losses in the quarter were 40 million or two points of the combined ratio compared to 14 million in the prior year period. The P&C underlying combined ratio of 91.2%, a 1.4 point improvement over last year's fourth quarter result. The underlying loss ratio in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 60.1%, which is down 0.3 points compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Excluding the impacts of COVID in the prior year quarter, The underlying loss ratio improved by 0.8 points as we continue to recognize some of the margin build in the current accident year from the earned rate increases as we did last quarter. For P&C overall, prior period development was favorable by 0.3 points on the combined ratio. Turning to production, gross written premium, excluding our captive business, grew by 16% in the fourth quarter. which was twice as high as the first half of the year. Net written premium grew by 11% for the quarter, an increase of six points from the third quarter. New business grew by 28% in the quarter, and the overall written rate increase was 8%, while earned rate in the quarter was 10%. In addition, retention of 83% was higher than it's been all year. and the strong production results were broad-based across all the operating segments. In terms of the business units, the all-in combined ratio for specialty was 89.9%, and the underlying combined ratio was 90.1%, a half-point improvement compared to last year. The underlying loss ratio improved by 0.9 points to 59.1%. The expense ratio increased by 0.5 points to 30.9 from a one-time true-up, and Larry will provide more detail in the discussion on expenses. Gross written premium ex-captives grew 15% in the fourth quarter with 58% growth in new business. This is the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in specialty. We also achieved an overall rate increase of 11%, up one point from the third quarter. We achieved higher rate in management liability and our affinity programs and stable rate in our healthcare business. In addition, retention improved three points to 83%. Turning to commercial, the all-in combined ratio was 94.9% in the quarter, including 2.9 points of CAT. This was the lowest all-in combined ratio in four years. The underlying combined ratio was 92.2% this quarter, which was the lowest on record, and was 1.4 points lower than the fourth quarter of 2020, and 2.4 points lower, excluding the COVID frequency impacts, that lowered the loss ratio in 2020. The underlying loss ratio, 61.4%, improved by 0.3 points compared to the fourth quarter 2020, excluding the COVID frequency impacts. As we referenced last quarter, the underlying loss ratio for commercial was higher in the latter half of 2021, resulting from mixed change between property and casualty net earned premium due to the new property quarter share treaty we purchased in June. The expense ratio improved 2.3 points to 30.4% this quarter. Commercial achieved a 19% growth in gross written premiums ex-captives with 16% growth in new business. Rate at 5% was only slightly below the third quarter and excluding work comp, the rate change was plus 7% in the quarter, which was consistent with the third quarter. Retention was up two points to 84%, which was the highest of any quarter this year. Retentions were strong in all of our commercial business units, and middle market retention improved to 85%, which is the highest level since prior to the pandemic. Exposure change was plus 2% in commercial this quarter as a result of increases in payrolls and sales volumes, as the economy continues to improve. This is the highest exposure increase since the first half of 2019. For international, the all-in combined ratio was 94.8% in the quarter. The underlying combined ratio improved by 4.2 points to another record low of 90.9% this quarter. The expense ratio improved 2.6 points the 32.4%, and the underlying loss ratio improved 1.6 points to 58.5%. We are very pleased with the improvement in our international results, which highlights our disciplined approach to the re-underwriting and catastrophe exposure reduction we executed. International achieved a 9% growth in gross written premium and new business growth of 15%. Rates were up 13% this quarter, achieving double-digit rate for the seventh consecutive quarter and nine of the last 10 quarters. In addition, retention at 82% was the strongest quarterly retention in over three years. Now let me provide some perspectives on the full-year performance. As I mentioned before, core income was a record for the year, increasing 50%, to a little over $1.1 billion or $4.06 per share and net income for the year was just over $1.2 billion or $4.41 per share. This compares to $735 million and $690 million in 2020 respectively. The increase from the prior year is attributed to significantly improved underlying underwriting gain and while still substantial, a lower level of cap loss compared to 2020, as well as higher net investment income driven by limited partnership returns. The all-in combined ratio was 96.2%, with 5.1 points of catastrophe loss and 0.3 points of favorable prior period development. This is the lowest calendar year combined ratio in five years, and a significant accomplishment considering the heavy levels of catastrophe loss again this year. Cat losses were 397 million pre-tax in 2021 compared to 550 million last year. But catastrophe losses in 2021 were actually higher than the 355 million catastrophe result in 2020 when you account for the COVID cat charge we incurred in 2020. RP&C underlying underwriting profit for the full year increased 31% to $667 million as the underlying combined ratio improved 1.7 points to 91.4%. It's the fifth consecutive year of improvement in the underlying combined ratio. The underlying loss ratio in 2021 was 60%, down 0.2 points compared to 2020, Excluding the impacts of COVID in the prior year, the underlying loss ratio improved by 0.6 points. The expense ratio improved 1.5 points for the full year. All three operating segments produced strong underlying results in 2021. For specialty, the underlying combined ratio of 89.7% was the best on record and 1.6 points lower than 2020. Commercial produced an underlying combined ratio of 92.6% in 2021, which is also a record, and 1.3 points lower than 2020. Multiple years of re-underwriting initiatives in our international portfolio have paid off, an underlying combined ratio of 92.1% in 2021, 3.5 points lower than 2020. Turning to production for the full year, Gross written premium growth ex-captives was 10% this year. We achieved strong new business growth of 19% and a full year rate increase of 9%. Retention was 82% for the full year. Net written premium grew by 5% for the year. In terms of the wider spread between gross and net written premium for the year compared to 2020, This is a function of the new property quota share treaty agreement, which was on a risk-attaching basis, causing the spread to widen. Before I turn it over to Larry, I'd like to acknowledge Scott Lindquist, who is also on our call. He'll be transitioning with Larry through the first quarter and will be handling the earnings calls after the first quarter. We are excited to have Scott on board. And with that, I'll turn it over to Larry.

Good morning, everyone. I will provide some additional information on the results, as Dino indicated. Starting with core income for the fourth quarter, our P&C operations produced a core income of $353 million, as Dino indicated. A key contributor to this strong result was our pre-tax underlying underwriting income of $167 million, a 22% increase from the fourth quarter of 2020. In addition, our catastrophe losses were relatively modest at $40 million pre-tax despite the fact that estimated CAT losses for the industry were significantly above the 10-year median for fourth quarter events. For full year 2021, the record core income of $1.106 billion produced an ROE of 9.1%, up substantially from 2020's 6.1%. Our Q4 expense ratio was a key component of our higher underlying underwriting profits. For the fourth quarter of 2021, the expense ratio was 30.8%, which was 1.2 points lower than the fourth quarter of 2020. In specialty, the expense ratio increased slightly in the quarter by half a point compared to a year ago due to recognition of higher profit sharing in the quarter for one of our profitable programs. In commercial, the expense ratio improved by 2.3 points this quarter, largely from growth in net earned premium. International also showed significant year-over-year improvement of 2.6 points driven by net earned premium growth and lower acquisition costs. On an annual basis, the expense ratio was 31.1% in 2021, one and a half points lower than full year 2020. We believe 31% is a reasonable run rate going forward as we continue to make investments in talent, technology, and analytics. The expense ratio improved for each segment, with specialty improving 0.8 points from 31.3% to 30.5%, commercial improving almost two whole points from 33% in 2020 to 31.1% in 2021, and international improving 2.4 points from 35.5% for 2020 to 33.1% for 2021. Moving to prior period development. For the fourth quarter, the overall property and casualty net prior period development impact on the combined ratios was 0.3 points favorable compared to no impact in the prior year quarter. Favorable development was driven by surety in the specialty segment for more recent action years, somewhat offset by management and professional liability. In the commercial segment, favorable development and workers' compensation was offset by unfavorable development in auto and general liability. In international, favorable development in our commercial classes was offset by unfavorable development in our specialty classes. In terms of our COVID reserves, we've made no changes to our overall COVID catastrophe loss estimates during the quarter. We continually review our COVID reserves and our previously established estimate of ultimate losses in LAE remains appropriate. The majority of the loss estimate remains in IUENR. For the full year 2021, overall development was favorable by three-tenths of a point compared to 0.7 points favorable in 2020. The pay-to-incur ratio of 0.89 was elevated in Q4 relative to the first three quarters of 2021 due largely to payout of catastrophes that occurred in prior quarters. However, the 0.89 ratio remains at the lower end of our pre-pandemic range. The ratio, which fluctuates quarter to quarter, has been consistently lower over the past two years with several factors driving that, including our growth in underlying underwriting profits. We have also had lower non-cap paid losses across several product lines where we have taken significant underwriting action, such as our medical malpractice and excess liability lines that we have previously discussed with you. The slowdown in the court dockets has also contributed to the lower paid losses. On a four-year basis, the paid to incurred ratio was 0.78. Moving to our non-property and casualty segments. Our corporate segment produced a core loss of $94 million in the fourth quarter, which compares to a $49 million core loss in the fourth quarter of 2020. The loss for fourth quarter 2021 was predominantly driven by our annual asbestos and environmental reserve review completed during the quarter. The results of the review included a non-economic after-tax charge of $48 million driven by the strengthening of reserves associated with higher defense and indemnity costs on existing accounts, and compares the last year's non-economic after-tax charge of $39 million. From a core income perspective, the impact of the fourth quarter 2021 charge was a reduction of approximately 18 cents per share versus an approximate reduction of 14 cents per share impact in the fourth quarter of 2020. Following this year's review, we have incurred cumulative losses of $3.4 billion, which is well within the $4 billion limit of our lost portfolio transfer cover that we purchased in 2010. Importantly, paid losses are at $2.2 billion. You will recall from previous years' reviews that there is a timing difference with respect to recognizing the benefit of the cover relative to incurred losses, as we can only do so in proportion to the paid losses recovered under the treaty. The loss recognized today will be recaptured over time through the amortization of a deferred accounting gain as paid losses ultimately catch up with incurred losses. As of year-end 2021, we have $429 million of deferred gain that will be recaptured over time. In addition to the impact from our annual investment asbestos and environmental reserve review, net investment income in the fourth quarter attributed to our corporate segment is down $13 million after tax on a year-over-year basis due to the last portfolio transfer agreement we entered into at the end of last year related to legacy excess workers' comp reserves. We also strengthened our legacy mass toward IBNR reserves this quarter by $16 million on an after-tax basis. For life and group, we had core income of $6 million for the fourth quarter of 2021, which is $20 million lower than last year's fourth quarter, as those results benefited from favorable morbidity experience driven by the pandemic. I wanted to comment on the approaching change in GAAP accounting methodology related to Long Duration Targeted Improvements, or LDTI, which will apply to our life and group businesses. We will adopt this new accounting guidance effective January 1, 2023, and will apply it as of January 1, 2021. We are working diligently on this implementation and intend to discuss the impacts on our first quarter call. We do expect the impact of this change will be a material decrease in accumulated other comprehensive income predominantly being driven by the difference between the expected interest rates from our investment strategy and the liability discount rate assumptions required under this accounting change. This accounting pronouncement applies only to GAAP basis financial statements and has no statutory accounting or cash flow impacts on the businesses. As a result, this accounting change is viewed by us and the industry as non-economic, as none of the fundamentals of the businesses are changed by it. Turning to investments. Total pre-tax net investment income was $551 million in the fourth quarter, essentially the same as last year's fourth quarter. The results included income of $108 million from our Limited Partnership, or LP, and common stock portfolios as compared to $114 million on these investments from prior year quarter. The strong LP returns for the quarter across both the P&C and life and group segments were significantly driven by private equity funds, and reflected the lag reporting results from the third quarter. As a reminder, our private equity funds, which comprise approximately two-thirds of our LP portfolio, primarily report results on a three-month lag basis, whereas our hedge funds are on a real-time basis. Our fixed income portfolio continues to provide consistent net investment income, stable relative to the last few quarters and the prior year quarter. While the current low interest rate environment continues to be a headwind, The impact on our net investment income has been mitigated by our strong operating cash flows, which have been driven by our growth in premium volume, strong underwriting profitability, and the slower payout of losses that I previously discussed. Pre-tax net investment income for the full year 2021 was $2.2 billion, compared to $1.9 billion for 2020. The increase was largely driven by our LP and common stock investments, which had pre-tax returns of $402 million for 2021 compared to $144 million for 2020. The returns from our fixed income securities portfolio was essentially the same for 2021 as it was for 2020, as our higher asset base offset the lower average portfolio yield. Our average book value has increased $1.4 billion from year-end 2020, while the pre-tax effective income yield decreased 20 basis points. To give a sense of magnitude of the increase in our operating cash flow, in the fourth quarter, operating cash flow was strong once again at $643 million. And on a four-year basis, it increased approximately $860 million from four-year 2020 after adjusting for the payment to purchase our excess workers' comp LBT agreement. From a balance sheet perspective, the unrealized gain position of our fixed income portfolio was $4.4 billion at year end down from $4.8 billion at the end of third quarter, reflecting the slightly higher interest rate environment. Fixed income invested assets that support our P&C liabilities and life and group liabilities had effective durations of 4.9 years and 9.2 years, respectively, at year end. Our balance sheet continues to be very solid. At year end, shareholders' equity was $12.8 billion, or $47.20 per share. Shareholders' equity, excluding accumulated other comprehensive income, was $12.5 billion, or $46.02 per share, an increase of 10% from the year end 2020, adjusting for dividends. We have a conservative capital structure with a leverage ratio of 18% and continue to maintain capital above target levels in support of our ratings. We are still digesting the potential changes to the S&P capital model, and we do not although we do not currently see this factor changing. Of course, the final version of the model has not been determined, and S&P has determined the deadline for companies to provide feedback. We continue to work with them to fully understand the potential impact of the proposed changes. Finally, we are pleased to announce we are increasing our regular quarterly dividend 5% to $0.40 per share, which will be payable on March 10th to shareholders of record on February 22nd. In addition to the increase in our regular quarterly dividend, we're declaring a special dividend of $2 per share, also payable on March 10th to shareholders of record on February 22nd. With that, I will turn it back to Dino.