Insurance company Chubb Corp. on

Insurance company Chubb Corp. on Thursday said its fourth-quarter profit dropped 37 percent as it saw huge investment losses as the market melted down.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, Chubb earned $407 million, or $1.13 per share, down from $650 million, or $1.68 per share, in the year-earlier period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected profit of $1.52 per share. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Chubb's combined ratio edged up to 84.3 percent during the fourth quarter, from 83.8 percent during the same quarter last year.

Chubb said catastrophe losses for the quarter were negligible, accounting for 3.8 percentage points of its combined ratio during the quarter, unchanged from the 2007 quarter.

Loss and loss expenses tied to claims declined to $1.56 billion from $1.61 billion during the year-ago period.

Net premiums written fell 4 percent to $2.9 billion during the quarter from $3 billion. Chubb said about half the decline was due to currency fluctuation. Premiums rose 2 percent in the personal insurance division, but fell 7 percent in commercial insurance and slipped 2 percent in specialty insurance during the quarter.

For the year, Chubb earned $1.8 billion, or $4.92 per share, down from $2.81 billion, or $7.01 per share, in 2007.







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