SNL Financial Analysis Shows Continued Growth Trend for the U.S. P&C Industry

Charlottesville, VA (Vocus) November 18, 2010

An SNL Financial analysis of preliminary third-quarter statutory insurance data finds that the U.S. property and casualty industry continued to experience modest growth in premiums written while essentially breaking even on underwriting with a calendar year combined ratio of approximately 100%.

Based on data for more than 76% of the U.S. P&C industry, direct premiums written increased 1.3% to $101.0 billion and net premiums written were up 2.2% to $88.7 billion from the same period in 2009. According to SNL, this second consecutive quarter of premium growth is a positive indicator, given that direct premiums written had previously declined on a year-over-year basis for six consecutive quarters and net premiums written had declined for eight straight quarters.

“The personal lines market continues to strengthen,” said Jon Wright, Director of Insurance at SNL. “Higher loss costs and accident year loss ratios resulted in negative returns for these lines in 2009. The commercial lines market remains very competitive with most lines of business reporting declining premiums. However, workers compensation is one exception, reporting modest gains.”

The pace of reserve releases slowed in the third quarter relative to prior periods, but favorable reserve development continued to subsidize the industry’s operating results. Favorable development totaled $10.1 billion year-to-date through September 30, up from $8.2 billion for the year-to-date as of June 30.

SNL’s statutory data includes detailed financial data on each filer, reinsurance, investment and loss reserve schedules, data by state and line of business and hundreds of ratios, snapshots and analytics, available exclusively as part of SNL Unlimited service for Financial Institutions. SNL is the only information provider to offer clients a comprehensive insurance product, linking statutory data with public company data, mergers & acquisitions data, proprietary news, documents and more. To find out more about SNL Unlimited, contact sales(at)snl(dot)com or call +1.866.296.3743.

About SNL Financial
SNL Financial is a leading provider of financial information on more than 3,300 public companies and 50,000 private companies in the business sectors critical to the global economy: Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate, Energy and Media & Communications. The SNL information service integrates breaking news, comprehensive data and expert analysis into an electronic database available online and updated around the clock. For more information, visit http://www.snl.com.

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SNL Contact Monica Jenkins Press Relations Manager
+1.434.951.6951
mjenkins(at)snl(dot)com

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