CNA FINANCIAL CORP (CNA) Business

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

CNA Financial Corporation (CNAF) was incorporated in 1967 and is an insurance holding company. References to “CNA,” “the Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to the business of CNAF and its subsidiaries. CNA's property and casualty and remaining life and group insurance operations are primarily conducted by Continental Casualty Company (CCC), The Continental Insurance Company, Western Surety Company, CNA Insurance Company Limited, Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Limited and its subsidiaries (Hardy), and CNA Insurance Company (Europe) S.A. Loews Corporation (Loews) owned approximately 92% of our outstanding common stock as of December 31, 2025.

Our insurance products primarily include commercial property and casualty coverages, including surety. Our services include warranty, risk management information services and claims administration. Our products and services are primarily marketed through independent agents, retail and wholesale brokers and managing general underwriters to a wide variety of customers, including small, medium and large businesses, insurance companies, associations, professionals and other groups. The property and casualty insurance industry is highly competitive, both as it relates to rate and service. We compete with a large number of stock and mutual insurance companies, as well as other entities, for both distributors and customers.

Our commercial property and casualty underwriting operations presence in the United States of America (U.S.) consists of field underwriting locations and centralized processing operations which handle policy processing, billing and collection activities and also act as call centers to optimize service. Our claim operations in the U.S. consists of primary locations where we handle multiple claim types and key business functions, as well as regional claim offices which are aligned with our underwriting field structure. We also have property and casualty underwriting operations in Canada, the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Continental Europe, as well as access to business placed at Lloyd's of London through Syndicate 382.

Our commercial property and casualty insurance operations are managed and reported in three business segments: Specialty, Commercial and International, which we refer to collectively as Property & Casualty Operations. Our operations outside of Property & Casualty Operations are managed and reported in two business segments: Life & Group and Corporate & Other. Discussion of each segment, including the products offered, customers served and distribution channels used, is set forth in the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) included under Item 7 and in Note N to the Consolidated Financial Statements included under Item 8.

Current Regulation

The insurance industry is subject to comprehensive and detailed regulation and supervision. Regulatory oversight by applicable agencies is exercised through review of submitted filings and information, examinations (both financial and market conduct), direct inquiries and interviews. Each domestic and foreign jurisdiction has established supervisory agencies with broad administrative powers relative to licensing insurers and agents, approving policy forms, establishing reserve requirements, prescribing the form and content of statutory financial reports and regulating capital adequacy and the type, quality and amount of investments permitted. Such regulatory powers also extend to premium rate regulations requiring rates not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory. In addition to regulation of dividends by insurance subsidiaries, intercompany transfers of assets or payments may be subject to prior notice or approval by insurance regulators, depending on the size of such transfers and payments in relation to the financial position of the insurance subsidiaries making the transfer or payments.

As our insurance operations are conducted in both domestic and foreign jurisdictions, we are subject to a number of regulatory agency requirements applicable to a portion, or all, of our operations. These include but are not limited to, the State of Illinois Department of Insurance (which is our global group-wide supervisor), the U.K. Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Office of Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) in Canada, the Luxembourg insurance regulator Commissariat aux Assurances (CAA) and the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).

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Domestic insurers are also required by state insurance regulators to provide coverage to certain insureds who would not otherwise be considered eligible by the insurers. Each state dictates the types of insurance and the level of coverage that must be provided to such involuntary risks. Our share of these involuntary risks is mandatory and generally a function of our respective share of the voluntary market by line of insurance in each state.

Further, domestic insurance companies are subject to state guaranty fund and other insurance-related assessments. Guaranty funds are governed by state insurance guaranty associations which levy assessments to meet the funding needs of insolvent insurer estates. Other insurance-related assessments are generally levied by state agencies to fund various organizations, including disaster relief funds, rating bureaus, insurance departments and workers' compensation second injury funds, and by industry organizations that assist in the statistical analysis and ratemaking process, and we have the ability to recoup certain of these assessments from policyholders.

Although the U.S. federal government does not currently directly regulate the business of insurance, federal legislative and regulatory initiatives can affect the insurance industry. These initiatives and legislation include proposals relating to terrorism and natural catastrophe exposures, federal financial services reforms and certain tax reforms.

Hardy, a specialized Lloyd's of London (Lloyd's) underwriter, is also supervised by the Council of Lloyd's, which is the franchisor for all Lloyd's operations. The Council of Lloyd's has wide discretionary powers to regulate Lloyd's underwriting, such as establishing the capital requirements for syndicate participation. In addition, the annual business plan of each syndicate is subject to the review and approval of the Lloyd's Franchise Board, which is responsible for business planning and monitoring for all syndicates.

Capital adequacy and risk management regulations, referred to as Solvency II, apply to our European Union (E.U.) operations and are enacted by the European Commission. Our operations in the U.K. have been subject to the same regulations but are transitioning to a tailored version of Solvency II, known as Solvency UK, developed by the PRA. Additionally, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) continues to develop capital requirements as more fully discussed below.

Regulation Outlook

The IAIS has adopted a Common Framework (ComFrame) for the supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (IAIGs), which is focused on the group-wide supervision of IAIGs, such as CNA. Elements of ComFrame have been incorporated into regulatory guidelines issued by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for application by regulators in the U.S. These additions were adopted for the purpose of streamlining group-wide supervision, further leveraging existing risk and solvency measures and applying them on a group-wide basis.

The NAIC developed an approach to group capital regulation and solvency-monitoring activities using the Group Capital Calculation (GCC). While historically the U.S. regulatory regime was primarily based on legal entity regulation, the GCC quantifies risk across the insurance group. The GCC was adopted by the NAIC along with model legislative language and attendant regulations, which have been adopted in a number of U.S. states where IAIGs are domiciled, including Illinois. Alongside the GCC, the NAIC has also developed the Aggregation Method (AM) approach to assessing group capital as an alternative to the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) developed by the IAIS. The AM is influenced by the GCC and calculated in a similar manner. In 2024, the IAIS concluded that the AM provides comparable outcomes to the ICS. While as of December 31, 2025 the AM continues to undergo further refinement as a part of the implementation process, the finding of comparability by the IAIS represents recognition of existing U.S. solvency regulation.

In addition, the U.S. and foreign regulatory environment in which we operate is continuously evolving, with both existing and prospective regulations that implicate aspects of our corporate governance, public disclosures and risk management, climate change, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity practices.

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Human Capital

As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 6,600 employees. We seek to create a culture of inclusion that engages our employees and offers them opportunities to learn, grow and achieve their career goals. We believe this will facilitate our ability to continue to attract and retain a highly talented workforce.

Talent, Recruitment and Development

We focus on attracting, developing and retaining top-tier talent to reflect the specialist nature of our business.

We aim to continually build on the expertise of our workforce. At entry levels, we have implemented trainee and internship programs and we continue to leverage relationships with colleges to attract talent. We seek to promote the development of employees, both to optimize current performance and to develop skills for future career growth. We have implemented programs designed for our employees to grow their technical expertise, collaborate with one another and achieve their career goals. We offer a wide range of learning and development opportunities, including mentorship programs, apprenticeship programs, tuition reimbursement, technical training and specialized leadership development programs.

CNA leaders engage regularly with our employees on their performance and professional development. We gather employee feedback through pulse surveys and routine dialogue with our employee groups and leaders from across the enterprise. Our annual talent and succession planning process culminates in a review with leadership of key talent retention and promotion, as well as a review of our succession plans.

We believe that employing individuals with different backgrounds and experiences helps meet the diverse needs of our stakeholders.

Employee Benefits

We offer comprehensive compensation and benefits packages to eligible employees including a 401k plan, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, employee wellness programs and certain family assistance programs.

Available Information

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers, including CNA. The public can obtain any documents that we file with the SEC at sec.gov.

We also make available free of charge on or through our internet website at cna.com our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information on or accessible through our website is not incorporated by reference into this Report.