Property and casualty insurance industry net income nearly tripled in 2009, to $35 billion, according to the Highline Data Performance Monitor. The Performance Monitor, which aggregates key statutory financial data reported by individual insurance companies every quarter, also found that the life insurance industry saw net gain from operations more than triple to a five‐year high of $76.2 billion, up from last year’s five‐year low of $17.6 billion.

The steep rise in net gain from operations was due to a greater decrease in premiums written, 16 percent, than in benefits paid, 14 percent, over the course of the year. This also drove life insurers’ return on equity to a five-year high of 15.2 percent. The absence of major catastrophes during the year gave property and casualty insurers their biggest decline in net losses incurred, 11.3 percent in the past ten years. Analysts say the findings demonstrate that the industry as a whole has regained a considerable amount of ground lost during the economic crisis, but not all of it.

P/C Net Nearly Triples (Highline Data 3/10/10)

March 16, 2010