S&P reports 2023’s highest-paid P&C CEOs and Chubb’s came in at No. 1
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A recent report from S&P Global shows that Chubb’s CEO was the highest paid among the top 10 property and casualty or multi-line insurers last year.
Evan Greenberg’s total adjusted compensation was $27.7 million including $12 million in cash and $15.7 million in stock, according to the report. S&P said that made for a 10% increase over the $25.2 million Greenberg received in 2022.
“His compensation was approximately 452 times the median Chubb employee salary of $61,188, the highest ratio among the top 10 insurers in this analysis,” S&P wrote. “The ratio was an increase from 346 times in 2022 and 322 times in 2021.”
Greenberg has been Chubb’s CEO since May 2004.
Second was American International Group (AIG) CEO Peter Zaffino at $24.6 million, which was 278 times the company’s median employee salary. Zaffino was the highest-paid CEO in 2022, according to S&P. However, his salary was reduced by 67.3% last year. The only other company that reduced its CEO’s pay was Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO) coming in at No. 9 on the highest-paid list. The reduction was by 0.9% bringing Dominic Frederico’s 2023 salary to $13.1 million, or 86 times the median salary of an employee at the company.
Third was Travelers CEO Alan Schnitzer at $22 million — 194 times the company’s median employee salary. He was No. 3 on the list last year for his 2022 salary, according to S&P.
Three CEOs on S&P’s newest list received increases in total adjusted compensation of more than 200% in 2023 — Global Indemnity Group CEO Joseph Brown at $3 million, a 280.5% increase from $800,000 in 2022; HCI Group CEO Paresh Patel at $3.7 million, a 255.2% increase to from $1 million and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group CEO Andrew Robinson at $9.2 million, a 233.1% increase from $2.8 million the prior year.
Tricia Griffith, CEO of The Progressive Corp., had the largest increase by percentage among the top 10 executives in the analysis with a 22.7% increase to $15.6 million in 2023 from $12.7 million in 2022.
Meanwhile, insurance rates and repair costs continue to rise.
An August report from Insurify states that in the first half of this year, full-coverage annual insurance premiums were hiked another 15% to $2,329 on top of post-COVID increases over the past couple of years.
Insurify’s data science team projects a total 22% increase by the end of the year.
“Rate increases in 2024 are largely a continuation of hikes in 2023, a year that saw full-coverage premiums rise by 24% in response to insurers’ record underwriting losses ($33.1 billion) in the year prior,” the report states. “Underwriting losses decreased to $17 billion in 2023 — a financial hit that was still substantial enough to drive significant rate hikes in the first half of 2024.
“Insurer losses result from a combination of inflationary pressures — like the rising cost of vehicle repairs and the skyrocketing price of new cars — and unprecedented climate catastrophes that drive weather-related claims in states that haven’t historically seen as much of this type of damage. These costs strain insurers’ budgets as they pay out more than they earn in profit.”
There were also significant increases in repair times and costs due to storm-related damages in 2023 and CCC Intelligent Solutions said in its recent Crash Course Q2 report that it’s bound to get worse this year.
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