Severe winter weather in the US has cut Chubb’s first-quarter earnings by 32% to $US449 million ($484 million).

Catastrophe losses grew to $US199 million ($215 million) from $US18 million ($19 million) in the corresponding period of last year.

The combined operating ratio deteriorated to 93.2% from 84.6% following the adverse weather. Net written premium for the quarter was little changed at $US3.1 billion ($3.3 billion).

President and CEO John Finnegan says the result is “solid”, given the weather-related losses and an unusually high number of homeowner fire losses after many quarters of relatively benign loss exposure.

“We remain encouraged by the mid to high-single-digit increases in… rate change metrics that we achieved in all of our business units during the first quarter, while enjoying an overall increase in renewal retention.”