Chubb has reported a small overall decline in first-quarter net income from $US509 million ($493 million) last year to $US506 million ($490 million) this year.

Operating income, or net income excluding after-tax realised investment gains and losses, rose to $US469 million ($454 million) in the first quarter from $US405 million ($392 million) in the first quarter last year.

The combined ratio was 90.2% compared to 93.7% in 2011 as the impact of catastrophes fell to 0.8 percentage points from 9.5 points last year.

Net written premiums for the first quarter increased 3% to $US2.9 billion ($2.8 billion).

Chubb CEO John Finnegan says Chubb is off to a strong start this year.

“We are especially encouraged by the momentum of renewal rate increases we experienced during the quarter in both standard commercial and specialty lines, as well as the continued rate improvement in personal lines,” he said.