Best's Market Segment Report: COVID-19 Forges Double-Edged Sword for U.S. Property/Casualty Mutual Insurers.

ENPNewswire-September 15, 2021--Best's Market Segment Report: COVID-19 Forges Double-Edged Sword for U.S. Property/Casualty Mutual Insurers

(C)2021 ENPublishing - http://www.enpublishing.co.uk

Release date- 14092021 - Despite significant returns of premiums during the pandemic in 2020, rated U.S. property/casualty mutual insurance companies still managed to grow premium modestly, according to a new AM Best report.

The Best's Market Segment Report, titled, 'COVID-19 Forges a Double-Edged Sword for U.S. Property/Casualty Mutuals,' states that net premiums written (NPW) for the rated U.S. mutuals grew by a modest 1.4% in 2020. Although the pace has slowed in recent years, these mutuals have seen NPW growth every year since 2010. The NPW growth in 2020 was attributable mainly to the market shift from greater personal auto risk to greater homeowners risk - homeowners multiple peril grew $2.5 billion while the personal auto lines declined $2.6 billion. According to the report, the unique circumstance of the pandemic led to an uncommonly favorable financial shock to the personal auto lines as fewer workers commuted. Companies used a number of financial methods to get their unforeseen one-time cash flows back to policyholders as effectively as possible, with policyholder repayments classified as underwriting expenses, or in some cases, as premium balances charged off as other income.

Inclusive of policyholder dividends during 2019-2020, the segment reported underwriting losses of $2.3 billion in 2020, compared with $3.5 billion in 2019. As a result, net income declined in 2020 only modestly - less than 4% in aggregate - despite the dramatic increase in policyholder dividends and a $1.4 billion decline in

net investment income and realized capital gains from the previous year. Overall, policyholders' surplus among the rated population increased by 8.4% in 2020 to $383.1 billion.

The 10 largest AM Best-rated U.S. mutuals accounted for 71% of NPW in 2020. These large...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT