NU Online News Service, March 11, 1:20 p.m.EST

U.S. insurers regained lost ground in 2009 with the property andcasualty sector's net income nearly tripling, to $35 billion,according to the Highline Data Performance Monitor.

The Performance Monitor, which aggregates key statutoryfinancial data reported by individual insurance companies everyquarter, also found the life insurance industry saw net gain fromoperations more than triple to a five-year high of $76.2 billion,up from last year's five-year low of $17.6 billion.

The steep rise in net gain from operations was due to a greaterdecrease in premiums written, 16 percent, than in benefits paid, 14percent, over the course of the year. This also drove lifeinsurers' return on equity to a five-year high of 15.2 percent,Monitor reported.

Highline said the absence of major catastrophes during the yeargave property and casualty insurers their biggest decline in netlosses incurred, 11.3 percent in the past ten years.

These findings demonstrate that the industry as a whole hasregained a considerable amount of ground lost during the economiccrisis, but not all of it, said Highline.

Insurers, according to the Monitor, entered 2010 in better shapethan they did 2009, but were still behind where they were in recentyears on many key measures.

Despite their impressive gains in 2009, the $35 billion in netincome for property and casualty insurers, up 274.3 percent, wasstill less than half that seen in 2006, $73.2 billion.

The changes in income cited by Highline is based on comparisonsof unconsolidated income for 2,699 individual insurers--basicallythe sums of net income for 2006, 2008 and 2009 for the individualinsurance companies in the Highline database. These figures give anearly indication of how overall industry figures changed lastyear.

The $35.0 billion net income sum is only a proxy for aggregatenet income that will ultimately be reported for the industry. Thetrue dollar figure for industry aggregate net income will take intoaccount intercompany transactions and investments in affiliateswhen it is ultimately reported by Highline Data in June.

The combined ratio for the property and casualty industry, whileimproved to 101.3 percent from last year's high of 105.1 percent,is still above the break even point, Highline noted.

Combined ratio measures the profitability of a company's dailyoperations by combining the loss and expense ratios. Because theratio was above 100 percent, the industry as a whole sustained anunderwriting loss in 2009.

Driven in part by the continued pressure on interest rates inequity markets, net investment income for life insurers hit afive-year low of $154.5 billion at year's end, the Monitorreported. Net yield likewise hit a five-year low of 5.1percent.

Laurie Dallaire, vice president and director of Highline Data inCambridge, Mass. said, "Being the first to deliver annual statementdata to the industry once again, we at Highline Data continue togive our customers an edge in the marketplace."

She added that "Our findings suggest that property and casualtycompanies will continue to strive to contain expenses and furtherreduce their combined ratios while life companies will continue torebuild capital and improve investment yields this year."

On March 1, Highline Data was the first to publish comprehensivestatutory financial statements from individual insurancecompanies.

Financial statements for all 3,313 individual companies thathave filed are available online via Insurance Analyst PRO.Insurance Analyst PRO provides insurance industry statutory andGAAP financial analysis. The analysis data is derived from theannual statutory financial statements filed with the NationalAssociation of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) by individualcompanies.

Highline Data is a unit of Summit Business Media, parent companyof National Underwriter.

P&C Insurance Industry % Change

Net Income 274.3%

Total Assets 3.6%

Policyholder Surplus 11.7%

Net Premiums Earned -3.8%

Net Losses Incurred -11.3%

Loss Adjustment Expense 1.5%

Net Premiums Written -4.0%

2009 Ratios

Loss Ratio 73.0%

Expense Ratio 28.2%

Combined Ratio 101.3%

Action Level RBC Ratio 638%