v3.26.1
Income Taxes
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2026
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes Income Taxes
The following table sets forth the Company’s income tax expense and effective tax rates for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025:
Three months ended March 31,
($ in thousands)20262025
Income tax expense$12,345 $9,377 
Effective tax rate19.9%18.2%
The effective tax rate will differ from the statutory rate of 21 percent due to tax charges associated with the effect of foreign operations, permanent differences for disallowed expenses for tax and beneficial adjustments for tax-exempt income, dividends-received deduction, and discrete items. The effect of foreign operations is primarily related to income of our foreign operations taxed at statutory tax rates of 15% in Bermuda and 25% in UK. The effective tax rate for three months ended March 31, 2026 was impacted by certain discrete tax items, primarily tax benefits from stock-based compensation, which reduced the effective tax rate by 3.1%.
The Company paid income taxes of $2.9 million during the three months ended March 31, 2026.