CNA Financial Corp. on Monday reported a net loss of $61 million in the first quarter of 2020 compared with a $342 million profit in the same quarter of last year as coronavirus-related market turmoil hit the insurer’s investments.

CNA reported net investment losses of $169 million for the quarter after reporting gains of $24 million in the same period last year.

“Offsetting the strong underlying underwriting performance were losses in our investment portfolio due to the economic impact of COVID-19,” Dino Robusto, Chicago-based chairman and CEO, said in an earnings call.

Gross written premiums in the company’s property/casualty segments, excluding third-party captives, improved $2.1 billion in the quarter, an 8% increase over last year, and net written premiums grew 3% to $1.9 billion.  

The combined ratio for property/casualty for the quarter was 97.5%, a slight improvement from the 97.8% reported in first-quarter 2019.

In its specialty operations, CNA’s net written premiums dropped about 1% to $694 million from the same quarter in 2019, but the combined ratio improved slightly to 91.3% from 92.3%. The insurer’s commercial segment reported net written premium of $950 million, a 12% increase over the 2019 period, due to new business and increased rates, according to insurer’s earnings statement.

While the company has received some business interruption claims due to COVID-19, Mr. Robusto said its property policies have exclusions barring coverage for viruses, and that the company has “minimal work comp exposure,” with workers compensation accounting for less than 1% of the insurer’s premium volume, few frontline health care workers covered in its portfolio and no policies covering first responders.

“There are a few other states, fortunately relatively few, where a broader presumption for essential workers is being proposed,” Mr. Robusto said. “This would add, in my opinion, significant, unpredicted costs to the system overall, because those exposures were not underwritten, they were not priced, and ultimately are going to be shouldered by already-struggling businesses. …We really do have to wait to see how this shakes out.”

More insurance and risk management news on the coronavirus crisis here.