The top 100 property-casualty insurers' financial results reveals the lowest net income levels in seven years, and a 67.7 percent drop from 2007, according to the first compilation of the sector's 2008 data by Highline Data.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Highline Data, a data affiliate of National Underwriter, said net income for the nation's top 100 p-c insurers was just $15.8 billion in 2008, compared to $48.8 billion in 2007.
The last time top p-c insurers reported an annual net income drop of this magnitude was in 2001, when losses from the 9/11 attacks impacted results, Highline Data said.
The top 100 combined ratio for 2008 was roughly 102, compared to 94 in 2007, according to the regulatory filings compiled to develop the Highline Data 2008 Top 100 Performance Monitor.
Additional results of the Performance Monitor reveal that surplus fell 11.3 percent for the top 100 insurance companies and net earned premiums were relatively flat, experiencing a 0.3 percent drop.
The percentage changes in income and surplus figures cited by Highline are based on comparisons of unconsolidated income and surplus figures for individual insurers–basically the sums of net income and surplus figures for 2008 and 2007 for the largest individual insurance companies in the Highline database ranked by net premiums written. These figures give an early indication of how overall industry figures changed last year.
The $15.8 billion net income sum is only a proxy for aggregate net income that will ultimately be reported for the industry. The true dollar figure for industry aggregate net income, in addition to including companies beyond the top 100, will take into account intercompany transactions and investments in affiliates when it is ultimately reported by Highline Data in June.
Highline Data is an affiliate of Summit Business Media, parent company of National Underwriter's Online News Service.
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