The Travelers Companies, Inc. reported first-quarter 2026 net income of $1.711 billion, up from $395 million in the same period in 2025 due to lower catastrophe losses and higher net investment income.
Travelers’ core revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was $1.696 billion, a significant increase of $1.253 billion from the first quarter of 2025.
Meanwhile, realized pre-tax net investment income in the first quarter of 2026 was $49 million, higher than the $61 million realized pre-tax net investment loss in the prior year period.
As noted above, Travelers’ catastrophe losses declined in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, from $2.266 billion pre-tax to $761 million pre-tax. With this in mind, the company’s combined ratio for the first quarter of 2026 was 88.6%, an improvement of 13.9 percentage points.
Travelers Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alan Schnitzer said pre-tax underwriting income of $1.2 billion was driven by strong underlying underwriting income levels and favorable prior-year net development, while the company’s high-quality investment portfolio generated $833 million in after-tax net investment income.
Schnitzer continued, “These results, combined with our exceptionally strong balance sheet, enabled us to return more than $2.2 billion of excess capital to shareholders during the quarter, including $2 billion in share repurchases.
“Given our very strong financial position and confidence in our business prospects, I am pleased to announce that our board of directors has declared a 14% increase in our quarterly cash dividend to $1.25 per share, marking the 22nd consecutive year of dividend increases and a compound annual growth rate of 8% during that period.”
Travelers also generated $10.3 billion in net written premiums in the first quarter through “rigorous market execution” across all three segments
Schnitzer added: “In commercial lines, our net written premiums grew to $5.8 billion. Our leading middle market business and select account small commercial business grew 5% and 3%, respectively.
“Commercial insurance renewal premium change was 5.8%, while retention increased 1 percentage point from recent quarters to a very strong 86%. New business reached a record $775 million.
“In bonds and specialty lines, our net written premiums increased 7% to $1.1 billion. In our high-quality managed liability business, renewal premium change increased sequentially, with premium retention at 87%.
“In our industry-leading guaranteed business, our net written premiums increased 14%. In personal lines, our net written premiums reached $3.5 billion, with stable premium retention rates in auto and homeowners and positive changes in renewal premiums.
“We are off to a strong start in 2026. Over time and under a variety of conditions, we have consistently grown with industry-leading returns and low volatility.
“This performance reflects the strength of our capabilities on both sides of the balance sheet and our focus on creating shareholder value. We believe the strengths we have built will continue to drive strong results and extend our track record of outperformance.”
Judging from the revenue of each market segment, Traveler’s three main businesses all achieved high performance this quarter.
Commercial Insurance segment after-tax income increased by $156 million to $839 million, an improvement primarily driven by lower catastrophe losses and higher net favorable reserves in the prior year.
In bonds and specialty insurance, after-tax segment income increased $34 million to $254 million, reflecting higher underlying underwriting earnings, higher net investment income and lower catastrophe losses.
The personal insurance segment achieved after-tax income of US$704 million, an increase of US$1.078 billion. The performance mainly benefited from reduced catastrophe losses, increased underlying underwriting income and increased net investment income, but was partially offset by a decrease in net favorable reserve development in the previous year.
