Chubb Chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg says the group is in “excellent shape”, with net income almost doubling to $US1.31 billion ($1.66 billion) in the second quarter.

The figure was up from $US726 million ($921 million) in the corresponding period last year.

Gross written premium improved to $US9.31 billion ($11.63 billion) from $US9.27 billion ($11.76 billion).

Investment income, on an adjusted basis, hit a record $US855 million ($1.08 billion).

The property and casualty (P&C) combined operating ratio strengthened to 88% from 91.2% and P&C underwriting income surged 32.5% to $US808 million ($1.02 billion).

“Chubb’s strong earnings this quarter were driven by world-class underwriting results and record investment income,” Mr Greenberg said. “We wrote less new business in line with our underwriting discipline, while renewal retentions were steady.

“Overall, we are in excellent shape with our integration-related efficiency efforts.

“We benefitted from a substantial improvement in both our expense ratio and loss ratio as a result of merger-related efficiencies and underwriting actions, plus lower catastrophe losses.”

Annualised cost savings from the integration of Chubb and Ace are forecast to reach $US875 million ($1.11 billion) by the end of next year, up from the previous estimate of $US800 million ($1.01 billion).

One-time merger-related expenses fell 29.6% to $US50 million ($63.42 million) in the quarter, and the P&C loss and loss expense ratio improved to 59% from 59.6%.