Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Nine-month insurer profits hit hard by catastrophes

Reprints
Nine-month insurer profits hit hard by catastrophes

Net income for the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry fell by 27.5% to $35.1 billion in the first nine months of 2020, according to a report released Monday by Verisk Analytics Inc. and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

The industry’s combined ratio deteriorated to 98.8% as of Sept. 30, 2020, versus 97.8% for the first nine months of 2019, as net underwriting gains declined to $300 million from $5.4 billion a year earlier, the report said.

Net written premium growth accelerated to 2.9% for the 2020 period, up from 2.7% in the same period of 2019.

The deterioration in underwriting results was due in part to increases in catastrophe-related losses, which more than doubled to $47.1 billion for the 2020 period.

PCS, a Verisk business, reported that 2020 set a record for the number of U.S. catastrophic events.

The year’s catastrophes included 19 events with at least $1 billion in direct insured losses in the U.S., including the first riot and civil disorder event to exceed that threshold.

The U.S. also recorded one of the largest deteriorations on the Verisk Maplecroft Civil Unrest Index in 2020 — increasing to the 34th riskiest jurisdiction by year-end, from No. 91 in the second quarter, the report said.

Insurers’ net investment income declined to $37.2 billion in the first nine months of 2020 from $40.6 billion in the prior-year period, the report said.