The insurance group reported that underwriting profit slipped 34 percent to $272 million as results worsened at the companys namesake reinsurance business and auto insurer Geico.

Applied Underwriters agreed to orders by regulators in California, Vermont and Wisconsin to halt some of its sales.

Jain sent a memo to employees detailing five areas, including compensation and sales channels, where changes should be made.

Warren Buffett, who built Berkshire Hathaway Inc. by reinvesting premiums from insurance units, said low bond yields have hurt the prospects of that strategy.

Ajit Jain, long considered a top candidate to replace billionaire Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is expanding his oversight of the companys insurance operations.

Gen Re, one of the giant reinsurance businesses at Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said its exiting property-casualty operations at six smaller locations amid a global reorganization.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will begin offering coverage in Europe through a specialty-insurance unit that Chairman Warren Buffett has been building over the past three years.

The insurance businesses had a fourth-quarter underwriting gain of $306 million driven by improvements at General Re and BH Reinsurance.