W R Berkley Corp Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Elyse Greenspan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Hi, thanks. Can you hear me?

Question: Elyse Greenspan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Okay. Perfect. My first question, I guess, is just on Mitsui Sumitomo. I know we have not seen a regulatory filing hit indicating that they've hit a 5% --

Question: Elyse Greenspan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : In the company. Do they have to file when they hit 5%? Is there any update? I know you guys are --

Question: Elyse Greenspan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : And then my second question, you guys saw kind of stable rate price in the quarter. Growth slowed, right, mostly due to commercial auto, a little bit of their liability. It feels like that's a trade-off, right, Rob, you guys are willing to make. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 20, 2025 / 9:00PM, WRB.N - Q3 2025 W R Berkley Corp Earnings Call I know last quarter, you said we're kind of in this 8% to 10% growth world. This was a little bit lighter. So does it feel like we're in a little bit lighter growth world as you guys look to keep as much price in the portfolio as you can?

Question: Elyse Greenspan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Thank you.

Question: Robert Cox - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Good afternoon. For my first question, I just wanted to ask about the catastrophe losses in the insurance segment. It just looks like it was more in line with the average ratio -- cat loss ratio we've seen for the last couple of years, whereas some peers are reporting lower cats. I know you called out SCS. But is there any particular geography or large loss to call out there? Or is this just a result of growth in short tail lines recently?

Question: Robert Cox - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Okay. Great. That makes sense. And just a follow-up on homeowners. It sounds like there's still some opportunity there. Can you talk about how Berkley One has performed compared to your expectations and where you're growing? Is it in states with more cat exposure, less cat exposure? Any context would help.

Question: Robert Cox - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Thanks, Rob.

Question: Brian Meredith - UBS AG - Analyst : Got, press the button. Alright, now you can hear me?

Question: Brian Meredith - UBS AG - Analyst : Awesome. So two questions. First one, big picture. So -- and maybe this is kind of for you as well as the Chairman. I recall Bill saying that one of his biggest regrets from the last hard market was starting to pull back too early. When there was still a healthy margin in the business. Is that a debate that's going on right now? Kind of how are you thinking about that? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 20, 2025 / 9:00PM, WRB.N - Q3 2025 W R Berkley Corp Earnings Call

Question: Brian Meredith - UBS AG - Analyst : Interesting. Thank you.

Question: Brian Meredith - UBS AG - Analyst : Yes. My second question, Rob, I know you chat a little bit about the first quarter, and you didn't see much on --

Question: Brian Meredith - UBS AG - Analyst : Yes, I'm still here. Can you hear me?

Question: Brian Meredith - UBS AG - Analyst : Okay, good. Question on tariffs. Are you seeing anything yet in your loss picks?

Question: Brian Meredith - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. Thank you.

Question: Andrew Kligerman - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : Okay. Good evening. First question is around loss development. It looks like really net nothing. But wondering if you could talk about if you had some releases in one area, some adverse in another area? Any color on that you could share would be appreciated.

Question: Andrew Kligerman - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : Anything off top of mind in casualty that stuck out? Was there adverse there or --

Question: Andrew Kligerman - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : Got it. And then just, Rob, just your commentary throughout this call. I'm just trying to put numbers around it a little bit. First quarter market seemed very different, and you rightly thought you could grow double digit this year. Last quarter, you were thinking maybe eight to 12. Should I be thinking

Question: Andrew Kligerman - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : That's very fair. If I could just sneak a quick one in. When you talk about Berkeley's business being at the small end of the spectrum type accounts. Any way to size that? I know you even brought a team in from -- I think they were at Hamilton or Kinsale in the small end. Like any way to size the small end of the spectrum at W.R. Berkley in the --

Question: Andrew Kligerman - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : Very helpful.

Question: Andrew Kligerman - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : Definitely. Thanks a lot.

Question: Andrew Kligerman - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : Got it. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 20, 2025 / 9:00PM, WRB.N - Q3 2025 W R Berkley Corp Earnings Call

Question: Mark Hughes - Truist - Analyst : Hey Rob, how are you?

Question: Mark Hughes - Truist - Analyst : I am, thank you. A quick follow-up on the other liability. You said the -- you were pivoting the portfolio. I wonder if you could expand on that point? Is there something you're seeing in the loss development trends perhaps that makes you want to pivot around other liability?

Question: Mark Hughes - Truist - Analyst : And I think you talked about how commercial auto was -- had been volatile lately. When you see this pivot, that's something that probably persists depending on which variables are driving it. Is it something that --

Question: Mark Hughes - Truist - Analyst : Very good. Thank you. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 20, 2025 / 9:00PM, WRB.N - Q3 2025 W R Berkley Corp Earnings Call

Question: David Motemaden - Evercore Inc - Analyst : Good afternoon. Can you guys hear me?

Question: David Motemaden - Evercore Inc - Analyst : Okay. Great. Just had another follow-up just on the other liability line. You had mentioned there are some pockets of competition picking up there. I was wondering if you could elaborate. Is that more primary casualty? Is it more excess or umbrella E&S more large account admitted? Any order of color on that would be helpful.

Question: David Motemaden - Evercore Inc - Analyst : Got it. Okay. So that sounds like across both primary GL and umbrella sounds like sort of a book wide comment. Is that correct?

Question: David Motemaden - Evercore Inc - Analyst : Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just on workers' comp, and you sort of mentioned it a little bit in your prepared remarks. But pretty good growth this quarter also this year to date as well. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 20, 2025 / 9:00PM, WRB.N - Q3 2025 W R Berkley Corp Earnings Call Could you remind me how much of the book is that you guys would say specialty or high hazard versus how much of it is Main Street just so I can sort of think about the moving pieces underneath that 9% growth this quarter.

Question: David Motemaden - Evercore Inc - Analyst : Got it. Thank you.

Question: Michael Zaremski - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : My first question is broad, focusing on the E&S market specifically. At least the data points we see is the deceleration of the increased competitiveness and the growth in the E&S market, you mentioned it to in your prepared remarks, is coming more so from the pricing side of the growth equation, whereas policies in force are continuing to grow at a double-digit pace. I'm just curious from your perspective, is that if to the extent pricing continues to moderate, should we would it be normal for the policy growth to also kind of start moving back into the primary market? Or are you seeing any trends there? Because it feels like the policy growth is really what's supporting ultimately a lot of the still healthy growth in D&S?

Question: Michael Zaremski - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : Okay. That's helpful. And my follow-up, Rob, is back to the earlier comments on the rating agency capital models and their sausage maker throwing out perhaps a 10-digit excess capital number. So in my words, maybe we'll make it $1 billion to buy that by our shareholders' equity. That's, whatever, 10%. Is that 10% a much higher level than historically? And do we care about the agency capital model to manage to different models.

Question: Michael Zaremski - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : Thank you.

Question: Andrew Andersen - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Good afternoon. Just looking at the investment portfolio. I think I heard you say 4.6% on the domestic yield book, so maybe some pressure on the Argentina side. Maybe if you could just comment on the --

Question: Andrew Andersen - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Okay. Great. And then just looking at the expense ratio and then the corporate expense at the consolidated level, it seems like that numbers lower than what the year-to-date or the first half was. So I guess -- are we still pushing --

Question: Andrew Andersen - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : I just look at the expense ratio and then looking at the corporate expense, and it looks like that's a little bit lower relative to where first half. So I guess are you pushing some expenses into the segment? And where are we with that?

Question: Andrew Andersen - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Okay, thank you.

Question: Joshua Shanker - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : Good evening to you all. So as I'm listening to the 2Q conference call, commentaries from some brokers, from your peers, there was a commentary that the E&S property markets were very, very weak, and that contributed to the weakness. But that stay tuned for 3Q, which is a low property quarter, everything is rosy in the other lines of business, and so we won't see that same headwind. And then when you began your prepared remarks with the word self-sabotage, I got very, very concerned --

Question: Joshua Shanker - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : I mean the self-sabotage sounds like an extreme thing. I mean we're all guilty of it from time to time, but hopefully in modest amounts. What is the takeaway, I guess, on pricing right now compared to three months ago? Is it along the same track? Or did you see a real step down, I guess, compared to three months ago.

Question: Joshua Shanker - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : Book relative to the marketplace. When you read your book --

Question: Joshua Shanker - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : And there's different ways to compete for business. And in this environment, are you seeing carriers offer to increase commissions to distributors in order to get a larger share of their business.

Question: Joshua Shanker - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : Okay. That's it for me. Thank you.

Question: Meyer Shields - Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc - Analyst : I am well. How are you doing? I'm hoping I'm coming through.

Question: Meyer Shields - Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc - Analyst : Great. So a couple of quick questions. One, going back to the pivoting comment. You mentioned the legal environment. Has your overall view of casualty loss trends changed over the past three to six months?

Question: Meyer Shields - Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc - Analyst : Okay. Perfect. And then I know the numbers are small, but I'm looking at most interest rates sort of declining in the quarter and an extending duration. And I'm wondering what is it that you're seeing that makes now the right time for that duration extension?

Question: Meyer Shields - Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc - Analyst : Right, understood. Thank you very much.

Question: Bob Jian Huang - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Hello, good evening. How are you guys?

Question: Bob Jian Huang - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : This is just more of a follow-up. Previously, you talked about that because the varying lines of business are decoupling from a pricing perspective, you can essentially turn on and turn off growth. Can you maybe help us to understand how quickly you can turn that growth, say, the 4% or the 10% you're referring to earlier. Just maybe help us understand the mechanics that you visit just simply just saying, okay, we're going to stop doing business here. I'm trying to understand how you're thinking about growth and managing the ability to go in and out of the market?

Question: Bob Jian Huang - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Okay. That's very helpful. Very last one. In terms of the market competition, you kind of talked about a decent amount of businesses in the smaller market side of it. Now if we do go into a more challenging macroeconomic environment, are you perhaps concerned about small and medium enterprise tend to be more exposed to macroeconomic conditions. So consequently, that could potentially play into your core market? Like just curious how you think about that?

Question: Bob Jian Huang - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Okay. Thank you. That's very helpful. Thank you very much.

Question: Wes Carmichael - Autonomous Research - Analyst : Great. So just one question, but just coming back, Rob, to your comments around property and property cat reinsurance. You mentioned the routing of the apple or at least impending routing of the apple. I just wanted to get your view -- curious your view because it seems like there's a lot of rhetoric that property is still rate adequate, but do you think we're really there where things could start to turn at 1/1? Or is that going to take more time? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 20, 2025 / 9:00PM, WRB.N - Q3 2025 W R Berkley Corp Earnings Call

Question: Wes Carmichael - Autonomous Research - Analyst : Got it. Thank you.