Net premiums written by U.S. property-casualty reinsurers were relatively unchanged in the first half of the year, but the profitability of the industry's book of business improved, the latest survey by the Reinsurance Association of America found.
A group of 22 U.S. propertycasualty reinsurers wrote $12.2 billion of net premiums during the first six months of 2007, down only $7.5 million compared with the same period last year, RAA noted.
However, RAA also found that the combined ratio for the group of reinsurers was 90 this year–a 6.5 point improvement from the 96.5 figure reported for the same period in 2006. The 2007 combined ratio is attributable to a 62.8 loss ratio and an expense ratio of 27.2.
Policyholders' surplus was up by $11 billion, rising 16.6 percent, from $66.3 billion last year to $77.3 billion in 2007′s first half, said RAA.
As for a few notable results among individual carriers:
o Swiss Re America Corp. had gross written premiums of $2.8 billion during the first six months of this year, down from $3.17 billion for the same period in 2006–with a combined ratio of 120.3, compared with 129.5 last year.
o National Indemnity Company had $2.44 billion in gross written premiums for the first half, compared with $2.64 billion last year, and a combined ratio of 59.5, down from 75.3 in 2006.
o SCOR U.S. Group/SCOR Reinsurance had gross written premiums of $179.9 million this year, posting a combined ratio of 116.1, compared with $108.4 million for the same period in 2006 and a combined ratio of 204.1.
RAA's full underwriting report is available on its Web site at http://www.reinsurance.org.
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