USAA’s Revenue, Earnings Off

July 31--USAA experienced a financial hiccup in the first half of the year.

The San Antonio insurer and financial services company earned $1 billion in the six months ended June 30, off 33 percent from $1.5 billion in net income for the same period in 2012.

Revenue, meanwhile, dipped slightly to $10 billion from $10.1 billion a year ago, figures in its midyear update show.

USAA didn't offer a detailed explanation for the slip, but company President and CEO Joe Robles Jr. mentioned weather-related insurance claims in the update.

"Thousands of USAA members are recovering from a variety of natural disasters this year, including tornadoes in Oklahoma, wildfires in Colorado and numerous other wind and hail storms," Robles said.

USAA's insurance losses from weather-related claims weren't included in the latest report. In the first half of last year, weather-related insurance losses amounted to $610 million.

Meanwhile, the company's net worth continued to rise. It was $22.9 billion at the end of June, a 7.5 percent increase from $21.3 billion at the same time last year.

Robles described USAA's net worth as "key measure of our ability to meet commitments today and into the future."

The size of USAA's membership base is closing in on 10 million. It had 9.8 million members at the end of June, up almost 8 percent from 9.1 million a year ago.

Its members mainly are active and retired military personnel and their families.

"As membership and our overall business have grown, we've continued to maintain strict expense discipline -- achieving industry-leading expense ratios," Robles said.

USAA's expenses were $9 billion in the latest period, a 4.7 percent increase from $8.6 billion for the same period last year.

At midyear, USAA employed about 25,500 people, up from 23,700 at the same time last year.

A USAA spokesman had no update on its San Antonio expansion plans. In March, it announced plans to add up to 1,000 workers in the Alamo City. At the time, the company had a workforce of 16,400 in San Antonio. The following month, the city's largest private employer disclosed plans to lease two buildings in the University Park Tech Center near Interstate 10 and De Zavala Road.

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