Private U.S. property/casualty insurers reported a $4.7 billion net underwriting loss in 2016—following an $8.9 billion net underwriting gain in 2015, according to ISO Solutions/Verisk Analytics and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).
They also experienced a 25 percent drop in net income after taxes to $42.6 billion from $56.8 billion a year earlier, the report said.
Insurers’ combined ratio deteriorated to 100.7 percent in 2016 from 97.8 percent in 2015, and net written premium growth slowed to 2.7 percent in 2016 from 3.5 percent a year earlier. Net investment income dropped to $46.3 billion in 2016 from $47.2 billion in 2015, and realized capital gains decreased to $7.3 billion from $9.4 billion, resulting in $53.7 billion in net investment gains for 2016, down $3.0 billion from a year earlier.
Direct insured property losses from catastrophes striking the United States totaled $21.6 billion in 2016, up from $15.2 billion a year earlier and above the $19.2 billion average direct catastrophe losses for the past ten years.
“Catastrophe losses continued to hurt insurer performance in 2016,” Beth Fitzgerald, president of ISO Solutions, said. “There were 43 catastrophe events in 2016, the highest number of such events since 1980. There’s no way around it—to underwrite catastrophic risk better, insurers need detailed and accurate analytics of weather and environmental perils.”
Catastrophe losses were not the only ones that affected insurers, however. Legacy losses also hurt performance.
“Those legacy issues should serve as a strong reminder that insurers need to engage in disciplined underwriting now or pay the price for it later. Those insurers that use robust data and up-to-date policy language will be the best poised for success,” Fitzgerald said.
Commercial lines direct written premiums expanded to $258.6 billion in 2016, a 3.1 percent increase from a year earlier. The increase in direct premiums was mostly the result of exposure growth in small commercial and middle market risks, such as specialty trade contractors, building construction, real estate, and auto dealers.