U.S. reinsurers' combined ratio deteriorates and net income falls: RAA

U.S. property/casualty reinsurers combined ratio continued to deteriorate and worsened to 116.2% during the six months ended June 30 from 98.7% during the same period in 2010, according to a survey of 19 U.S. reinsurers released Monday by the Washington-based Reinsurance Assn. of America.

The results are “due to the extraordinary number of catastrophes in 2011, such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, tornadoes in southern and northeastern U.S., and floods,” said a spokeswoman for the RAA.

The combined ratio is attributable to an 87.2% loss ratio and an expense ratio of 29.0%, the RAA said Monday.

Premiums written rise

The reinsurers wrote $13.8 billion of net premiums during the first half of this year, a 12.2% increase from $12.3 billion in the same period of 2010.

Policyholder surplus fell to $107.5 billion during the first half of the year from $107.6 billion at the end of the first quarter 2011, but remained much higher than the $99.7 billion it had been during the same time in 2010.

Net income plunged more than 60% to $1.66 billion in the first half from $4.21 billion in the same period of 2010.