Old Republic International Corporation

At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Old Republic International Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star to my number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star one again. Thank you. Joe Calabrese with the Financial Relations Board. You may begin.

Thank you, Chris. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Old Republic Conference Call to discuss the company's fourth quarter 2022 results. This morning, we distributed the company to Presley and posted a separate financial supplement, which we assume you have seen and or otherwise have access to during the call. Both of the documents are available at Old Republic's website, which is www.oldrepublic.com. Please be advised This call may involve forward-looking statements as discussed in the press release and financial supplements dated January 26, 2023. Risks associated with these statements can be found in the company's latest SEC files. This afternoon's conference call will be led by Craig Smithy, President and CEO of Old Republic International Corporation, and several other senior executive members as planned for this meeting. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Craig Smithy. Go ahead, sir. Okay, Joe, thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome again to Old Republic's fourth quarter earnings call. With me today are Frank Sidero, our CFO of ORI, and Carolyn Monroe, our president of the title insurance business. Well, as some of you may have seen earlier this week, we officially kicked off our recognition of the 100-year anniversary of Old Republic. And throughout the year, we plan on engaging with all of our stakeholders, including our shareholders, associates, customers, distribution partners, as we look to celebrate this milestone. So, ORI had another good quarter, contributing to a strong performance for 2022, with general insurance producing significantly greater pre-tax operating income in the quarter and for the year, while title insurance pre-tax operating income was considerably less than the record-setting 2021 results, mainly due to the effects of increasing mortgage interest rates. Our reserve position remains healthy in all of our segments, led by general insurance with very strong favorable prior year reserve development in the quarter and in the year. Our balance sheet is in great shape as we continue to efficiently manage our capital position. And as the relief indicates, we returned a considerable amount of capital to shareholders during the quarter and the year. through both dividends and share repurchases. Consolidated net premium and fees earned for the quarter and the year were lower, reflecting the lower year-over-year title insurance revenues. General insurance net premiums earned increased by 7% for the year, while title insurance net premium and fees earned decreased by 29% in the quarter and 13% for the year. Our consolidated pre-tax operating income was $300 million for the quarter and just over a billion for the year, while our consolidated combined ratio came in at a very profitable level of 89.6% for the quarter and 91% for the year. Both general insurance and title insurance produce sound, profitable underwriting results as is reflected in their respective combined ratio. Going into 2022, our expectation for title insurance was for considerably less revenue and operating income than the 2021 year, and we remain of the view that headwinds will continue for title insurance in 2023. ORI's strong, consolidated results once again reinforces the soundness of our longstanding diversification strategy between PNC insurance and title insurance, which we believe produces steadier earnings and returns over time. So I'll now turn the discussion over to Frank. Frank will turn things back to me to cover general insurance. which will be followed by Carolyn, who will discuss title insurance, and then, as usual, we'll open up the conversation for Q&A. So with that, Frank, I hand it to you.