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P&C Insurer Bottom Lines Recover, But Combined Ratios Worsen For Key Lines

In 2009, the property and casualty insurance industry recovered from a devastating global financial crisis that had drained 12 percent from policyholder surplus and nearly erased the net income recorded the year before.

By Susanne Sclafane | Updated on July 25, 2010

In 2009, the property and casualty insurance industry recovered from a devastating global financial crisis that had drained 12 percent from policyholder surplus and nearly erased the net income recorded the year before.

On the underwriting front, however, losses continued to grow in bread-and-butter lines such as private passenger auto, commercial general liability and workers’ compensation in 2009, while net written premiums tumbled for the third straight year for all lines taken together.

Line-of-business data for the industry in the aggregate, as well as premium, loss and expense data for individual insurance companies and groups used for NU’s P&C Premium Rankings (accompanying this article on pages 14-18) along with our traditional midsummer financial report, is based on statutory annual statements filed with insurance regulators. The data is compiled from the NAIC Annual Statement Database via Highline Data, a data affiliate of National Underwriter. (See related discussion, “About the Data,” on page 22.)

In the aggregate, information from Highline Data (www.highlinedata.com) shows that net written premiums fell only 3.8 percent in 2009 for the industry overall, but American International Group–now known as Chartis–saw more than one-third of its premiums disappear last year.

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