U.S. property/casualty insurance industry's 2011 results affected by catastrophes: Fitch

Poor underwriting results hampered the financial performance of the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry in 2011, according to a report released Wednesday by New York-based Fitch Ratings Inc.

The report, “U.S. Property/Casualty Insurers’ Year-End 2011 Financial Results,” examined the 2011 financial results for 47 publicly traded U.S. insurers and reinsurers. Spurred by increasing losses resulting from natural catastrophes, the combined ratio for the group worsened, increasing to 103.6% from 97.5% in the prior year. The weak underwriting results combined with declining investment income to weaken operating income, which fell 30% from the prior year.

Looking ahead, the report deemed recent indications of market hardening as positive but said the rising rates may not be sustainable given the amount of capacity in the market.

“Evidence of broader improvement in insurance premium rates is mounting via recent management commentary, as well as renewal rate information from brokers and other pricing surveys,” said the report. “While recent favorable pricing movement is encouraging, questions remain on the sustainability of this new trend. Fitch believes that a more meaningful removal of capital or underwriting capacity is necessary before insurance pricing can move to levels corresponding with the strong accident year returns produced in the middle of the last decade.”