Despite a 20.8 percent increase in first-quarter underwriting profits fueled by lower catastrophe losses, the property-casualty insurance industry saw its bottom-line income drop 3.8 percent due to declines in investment income, higher federal income taxes and the impact of several "special developments" that complicated a direct comparison of the two periods.
The quarterly report on joint industry results issued by the Insurance Services Office and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America showed that underwriting gains were up $1.4 billion to $8.4 billion for the first quarter of this year, while the combined ratio fell a full point to 91.2.
Industry surplus rose 3 percent, from $427.1 billion on Dec. 31, 2005 to $440.1 billion as of March 31 of this year.
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