The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Hartford Financial's third quarter 2024 results conference call and webcast. All participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. To ask a question at this time, you'll need to press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Susan Spivak, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for our call and webcast on third quarter 2024 earnings. Yesterday, we reported results and posted all of the earnings-related materials on our website. Now, I'd like to introduce our speakers. To start, we have Chris Swift, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, followed by Beth Costello, our Chief Financial Officer. After their prepared remarks, we will begin taking your questions. Also to assist us with your questions are several members of our management team. Now, just a few comments before Chris begins. Today's call includes forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results could be materially different. We do not assume any obligation to update information or forward-looking statements provided on this call. Investors should also consider the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from these statements. A detailed description of those risks and uncertainties can be found in our SEC filings. Our commentary today includes non-GAAP financial measures. Explanations and reconciliations of these measures to the comparable GAAP measures are also included in our SEC filings, as well as in the news release and financial supplement. Finally, please note that no portion of this conference call may be reproduced or rebroadcast in any form without the Hartford's prior written consent. Replays of this webcast and an official transcript will be available on the Hartford's website for one year. I'll now turn the call over to Chris.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. Before we discuss our results, I want to extend our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene. These storms have been wide-ranging and devastating. In times like these, I'm especially proud of the Hartford's claims handlers, adjusters, and leaders. Our team is working tirelessly to support every customer impacted by these storms. Turning to our results, the Hartford's third quarter performance is a powerful example of sustained financial excellence, even in the face of industry-wide elevated catastrophe losses and liability severity trends. Our excellent performance reflects the effectiveness of our strategy and ongoing investments to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace. We remain focused on discipline underwriting, pricing execution, expanding product and distribution breadth, developing exceptional talent, and delivering a superior customer experience. Highlights from the third quarter include top line growth in commercial lines of 9% with double digit new business growth, strong renewal written pricing increases, and a very strong underlying combined ratio of 88.6. personal lines top line growth of 12%, with over five points of underlying margin improvement, an impressive group benefits core earnings margin of 8.7%, and continued solid performance in our investment portfolio. All these items contributed to an outstanding trailing 12-month core earnings ROE of 17.4%. In addition, yesterday, we were pleased to announce an 11% increase in our common quarterly dividend payable on January 3rd, 2025. This is a continuation of our track record of annual dividend increases and another proof point of earnings power and strong capital generation. Now let me share a few details from the quarter. Commercial lines continues to produce excellent results with strong top line growth and an underlying combined ratio below 90% for the 14th straight quarter, reflecting our industry-leading underwriting tools, pricing expertise, and data science advancements. New business growth in small commercial and middle market was once again well into double digits. Retention was steady, and the environment remains conducive for growth. As I've highlighted in the past, The breadth of our product offerings, extensive distribution network, and strategic investments in technology allow us to provide comprehensive and tailored solutions, which gives us a competitive advantage with small and medium-sized enterprises. Our emphasis on ease, simplicity, and speed ensures that our customers and distribution partners experience seamless interactions and quick response. These strengths enable us to offer more precise and competitive pricing, enhancing our market position. Additionally, our product capabilities help us to support customers as their businesses grow. We expect to continue to gain market share while maintaining highly profitable margins. A prime example of Hartford's SME market leadership is our small commercial business, which once again had an outstanding quarter with strong top line growth and margins. Your business premium was up 26% in the quarter, in part driven by a 31% increase in quotes and a doubling of ENS binding premium, a business where we continue to see tremendous opportunity. We take pride in our robust business system and associated insights, which drives our rate strategy and segmentation giving us significant edge that's a challenge for others to match. With another quarter of exceptional results and relentless advancement of our capabilities, I remain incredibly bullish on the outlook for our small commercial business. Moving to middle and large commercial, third quarter performance was strong, including 8% top line growth, paired with an underlying margin that has consistently hovered around 90 or better for the past eight quarters. We continue to take advantage of elevated submission flow, driven in part by investments made to expand our product capabilities and the efficiency of the broker and agent experience. Written premium growth reflects strong renewal rate execution, along with a 28% increase in middle market new business with growth across nearly all products led by property. We have built a track record of delivering meaningful growth while consistently maintaining underlying margins, a result we expect to sustain going forward. In global specialty, we achieved excellent results with underlying margins in the mid-'80s and a record quarterly earned premium approaching $850 million. Strong top line growth reflects our competitive position, diverse product offerings, and solid renewal pricing. Gross written premium growth of 9% was driven by a 17% increase in our wholesale business, including 10% in property, as well as significant contributions from auto and excess casualty and global reinsurance. Across commercial lines, our continued emphasis on property expansion has resulted in premium growth of approximately 20% this quarter, putting us on track to achieve our full-year target of $3 billion. We remain confident in and continue to capitalize on market conditions that support earning strong risk-adjusted returns through a disciplined strategy while maintaining a stable and consistent approach to catastrophe risk management. As for pricing, In commercial lines, renewal written pricing excluding workers' compensation of 9.5% was relatively consistent with the second quarter. Low teens pricing in auto and high single digits in general liability are responding to societal trends. Umbrella and excess pricing was in the mid-teens. Overall, commercial property pricing remained strong in the low double digits, with mid to upper teens property pricing within our small commercial package product. Commercial lines overall loss trends are stable with some moderation in both property and financial line severity, offset by higher severity in liability. All in, ex comp renewal written pricing in commercial lines remained above loss cost trends. Workers' compensation pricing was slightly positive in the quarter. Turning to personal lines, our third quarter financial performance demonstrates continued margin improvement. We saw a seven-point improvement in the auto underlying combined ratio and are on track to achieve target margins in mid-2025. Auto renewal written price increases remain very strong at approximately 20%. Pricing declines from peak levels remain consistent with our view of moderating loss trends for the remainder of the year. In homeowners, renewal written pricing of 15% during the quarter comprised of net rate and insured value increases outpaced underlying loss cost trends. Turning to group benefits, our core earnings margin was an impressive 8.7% for the quarter. Continued strong group life results and long-term disability execution are the primary drivers. Fully insured ongoing premium growth of 2%, consistent with the first half of the year, reflects strong book persistency, still above 90%, and sales of 105 million in the quarter. Moving to investments, the portfolio continues to support the Hartford's financial and strategic goals, performing well across a range of asset classes and market conditions. Beth will provide more details. Before I turn the call over to Beth, I would like to share some insights from this year's Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers Annual Conference. Last year, we provided an update on CIAB where the strength of our franchise was a consistent theme. This year, our partners amplified that strength, highlighting our innovative digital tools, comprehensive product offerings, and our robust innovation agenda. They praised our consistent strategy and execution over the years. Additionally, they expressed a strong desire to expand their business with us, viewing our team as best in class, and noting that our relationships have never been stronger. In summary, the Hartford delivered an excellent quarter, a testament to our execution, strategy, talent, and the impact of ongoing investments in our business. As I've said before, we continue to build on our market differentiating capabilities and broad product offerings, all while becoming more efficient. Our disciplined underwriting and pricing execution, exceptional talent, and innovative customer-centric technology are expected to sustain superior results, and we continue to proactively manage our excess capital. All these factors contribute to my excitement and confidence about the future of the Hartford and our ability to extend our track record of delivering industry-leading financial performance. Now I'll turn the call over to Beth to provide more detailed commentary on the quarter.