Global re/insurer Chubb has reported that it ceded more risk in premium terms to its third-party capitalised total-return reinsurance joint-venture ABR Re in 2025, while the reinsurance commission benefits earned from the entity continued to increase.
As a reminder, for Chubb, the ABR Re strategy provides aligned third-party capital supported reinsurance capacity, similar to a sidecar structure, but has an additional lever of an investment return delivered through the management of assets by joint-venture partner Blackrock.
ABR Reinsurance Capital Holdings Ltd., the parent organisation, along with ABR Reinsurance Ltd. (ABR Re), which serves as the reinsurance underwriting vehicle, were established in 2015 by Chubb (then known as ACE) as a total-return, or investment-focused, reinsurance joint venture in collaboration with asset management firm Blackrock.
Moreover, ABR Re acts as a considerable third-party reinsurance capital vehicle for Chubb, having launched with roughly $800 million of capital sourced from third-party investors and the joint-venture partners themselves.
Blackrock provides investment management services for the reinsurance vehicle, while Chubb cedes risk to ABR Re, while both of the JV partners earn a source of income from ABR Re, in terms of fees and profit shares.
ABR Re acts an internal reinsurance vehicle and has a strict mandate to only underwrite risks ceded to it by Chubb, while it is said to follow market terms on that underwriting business as well.
Last year, we reported that in 2024, the amount of business ceded to ABR Re increased, reaching $476 million, which was up on 2023’s $441 million of premium.
Overall commissions received by Chubb from ABR Re stood at $117 million for 2024, slightly down on the $119 million reported for 2023. However, with premiums ceded to ABR Re rising to $520 million in 2025, the commissions received have increased to an impressive $151 million for the year.
The importance of the ABR Re third-party capitalised total-return and sidecar-like strategy remains, as the reinsurance recoverable attributed to the vehicle rose again to $1.39 billion, having reached $1.37 billion at the end of 2024.
Chubb also reported $3 million of income from reinsurance and investment management performance related fees earned via ABR Re for 2025, in comparison to the $12 million it posted in 2024.
This variance is largely attributable to lower investment performance on the underlying assets managed by BlackRock, rather than a decline in the joint venture’s operational scale, which continues to expand.
Furthermore, Chubb’s ownership stake in ABR Re was 19.1% for 2025, a slight increase from the prior two years.
Much like last year, Chubb did not disclose the carrying value of its stake in ABR Re in its recent annual results. The most-up-to-date figure we have is $151 million, that Chubb reported at the end of 2023.
It is evident that ABR Re continues to be an effective and progressively significant third-party reinsurance capital strategy for Chubb.
It offers Chubb a committed source of reinsurance capacity from external investors, in addition to the flexibility and leverage provided by an investment-focused underwriting strategy, with fee income and commissions serving as an extra advantage.
The benefits of the ABR Re strategy cannot be understated, as it remains one of Chubb’s largest sources of reinsurance capital, which with the added efficiency from the total-return investment approach and the fees and commissions earned back, helps to lower Chubb’s overall reinsurance costs while allowing it to lean on efficient third-party capital for protection.
