Advertise
Resources
Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
U.S. property/casualty insurers' aftertax net income for the first half of 2009 fell 59.3% to $5.8 billion compared with the same period in 2008, according to a report released Monday by the Insurance Services Office Inc. and the Property Casualty Insurers Assn. of America.
The survey found that net written premiums dropped 4.2% to $212.8 billion in the first half of 2009. Net earned premiums declined 2.9% to $6.3 billion during the same period.
Policyholders' surplus rose 1.2% to $463 billion as of June 30.
The first-half report also found that insurers' overall profitability as measured by their annualized rate of return on average policyholders' surplus dropped to 2.5% from 5.5% percent in the same period last year.
“Driving the declines in insurers' net income and rate of return, their net investment gains—the sum of net investment income and realized capital gains (or losses) on investments—fell 50.2% to $12.4 billion in first-half 2009 from $24.9 billion in first-half 2008,” the Jersey City, N.J.-based ISO and the Des Plaines, Ill.-based PCI said in a joint statement.
But net losses on underwriting fell $3.4 billion to $2.2 billion from $5.6 billion in first-half 2008. The industry's combined ratio improved to 100.9% in the first half of this year from 102% during the same period last year.
The figures are consolidated estimates for all private property/casualty insurers based on reports accounting for at least 96% of all business written by private U.S. property/casualty insurers.