Commercial property and casualty (P&C) pricing is continuing to rise, Chubb says.

The group’s first-quarter results show net income was $US1.08 billion ($1.43 billion), down 1.1% on the corresponding period last year, while gross written premium increased almost 4% to $US8.73 billion ($11.53 billion).

The combined operating ratio for P&C worsened to 90.1% from 87.5%.

Chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg says commercial pricing is improving in the US and overseas.

“We achieved some of the best pricing in quite some time, and it improved as we moved through the quarter,” he said. “In some classes, customer segments and territories we are observing a clear direction in price firming; in others it’s more chaotic.”

Mr Greenberg says the quarter was affected by high catastrophe losses, up $US174 million ($229.77 million) pre-tax to $US380 million ($501.8 million).

Adjusted net investment income was up 4.9% to $US877 million ($1.16 billion).

“We expect the positive trend to continue due to our strong growth in invested assets and the rising yield environment,” Mr Greenberg said.