Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. on Thursday posted second-quarter net income of $437 million, down 51% from the same time period last year and mostly due to decreases in personal lines.

Its core earnings totaled $714 million, down 15% from last year’s second quarter.

Yet, according to the results, commercial lines core earnings for the second quarter stood at $544 million, compared with $560 million in second-quarter 2021, representing a 3% drop.

Contributing to those figures were a 12% growth in earned premium; an improvement in the underlying loss and loss adjustment expense ratio of 1.0 points, to 56.1%, in second-quarter 2022 including significant improvement in global specialty lines; and current accident year cat losses of $67 million in second-quarter 2022, compared with $93 million in second-quarter 2021.

Christopher Swift, chairman and CEO of the Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer, said Friday during a webcast with analysts that the steady results in commercial show that “momentum in the marketplace is evident, with several consecutive quarters and record new business, the speed and accuracy and consistency we deliver to the market, along with leading digital capabilities.”

“We are transforming our middle and large commercial business into a specialized organization with broad product offerings and deep underwriting skills across industry verticals, which is driving growth, strong profit margins, and more consistent results,” he said.

Property/casualty written premiums rose 10% in second-quarter 2022, driven by commercial lines premium growth of 14%, which reflects “written pricing increases and exposure growth, along with an increase in new business and policy current retention and small commercial,” Beth Costello, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said during the webcast.

Commercial lines combined ratio of 87.3 improved 1.6 points from second-quarter 2021, primarily driven by improvement in global specialty.

Regarding personal lines, an 81% decrease in earnings for the second quarter compared with last year’s results reflects increased auto loss costs, according to Ms. Costello. “We continue to experience inflationary impacts on auto physical damage. We expected to see some moderation in severity trends and to date that has not been the case.”