W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Michael Zaremski: Understood. As a follow-up also to a previous question on the impact from higher reinsurance rates. And I heard you say probably not too material given the overall size of the organization. Just want to make sure are there any nuances we should be thinking about? Like are casualty seeding rates changing and we should be thinking about that? Or is there still kind of more of the book in terms of your reinsurance purchasing that could come later in the year that we’re still kind of TBD.

Robert Berkley: We buy many contracts, and they renew throughout the year. I think it’s how you should look at that. I think for our reinsurance and retros, did we pay a bit more? Yes, we did. Do we have every intention of passing that increased cost along? Yes, we absolutely do. And as far as our insurance and our cat costs, it’s the same story. There are some cases, clearly, where we’re paying a bit more, and we have a choice, whether the company allows that to erode our margins or whether we pass that on. And it is our intention to pass that along in the cost of our product that we sell.

Michael Zaremski: Okay. And lastly, thank you for the paid loss ratio comments. And just curious if you’ve been surprised at where the paid loss ratios have been settling out lately? Or are you — or as Berkeley, since you guys have been sounding the alarm on social inflation for a while, maybe there’s kind of a mix or just resifting you guys have been doing to help keep those paid loss ratios from getting back to, I guess, pre-pandemic or longer-term levels?

Robert Berkley: Look, Mike, we don’t have it down to a granular level that — or basis points, but directionally, it has unfolded as we had anticipated. And we’ll have to see what that means over time. But again, directionally, it is unfolding as we had anticipated.

Michael Zaremski: Thank you.

Robert Berkley: Thanks for the question. Have a good evening.

Operator: And Mr. Berkley, we have no further questions. So back to you for any closing comments.

Robert Berkley: Okay, Bo. Thank you very much. We appreciate everyone’s participation this evening, and we will look forward to catching up with people in give or take, 90 days. Have a good evening all. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you, Mr. Berkley, Again, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining W.R. Berkley’s fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. We’d like to thank you all so much for joining us. We wish you all a great evening. Goodbye.