The impact of 2020′s major P&C insurance-industry business trends is now beginning to take shape in the year's reporting of company and group premium growth and combined ratios.
Most notably, insurers navigated a myriad of challenges around the COVID-19 pandemic, from the ongoing debate regarding business interruption coverage to the demand in 2020 that carriers refund or adjust premiums based on a policyholder's unique circumstances. Equally pressing when taking a global view of the industry has been the impact of the novel coronavirus on workers and subsequently the workers' compensation insurance market.
"There are a lot of moving parts that were kind of unusual in 2020," says Tim Zawacki, principal research analyst covering the U.S. insurance industry for S&P Global Market Intelligence, the agency that each year compiles insurance company, group and market-specific premium reporting from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and then shares that research with NU Property & Casualty magazine for the presentation on the following pages. The reporting is based on insurance carrier statements from 2020, which may include business outside the U.S.
Zawacki says that consumers value this reporting because it may help them determine whether their coverage pricing is fair, investors may take this data into consideration as they determine their insurance-related allocations, and regulators will certainly track this data now that some insurance practices are being more scrutinized.
The premium reporting data reflects "many trends that we're already aware of based on competitive intelligence," says Zawacki, notably the ongoing impact of cli-mate change, nuclear verdicts and cybersecurity woes.
Here are three other caveats to note before diving into the 2020 lists of top insurance companies and groups as well as the top carriers in four specific markets (Workers' Comp, Commercial Auto, Homeowners and Personal Auto):
- Data is based on as-reported information, so it does not take into account any potential premium rebates.
- Group data for Farmers Insurance and Zurich are altered to reflect their recent acquisition of MetLife.
- Mapfre has been included in previous years reporting but was not in these 2020 tables because S&P Global Market Intelligence did not receive data from its subsidiaries by the time this issue was published.
See also:
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.