New data released by The Reinsurance Association of America (RAA) shows an increase in both profitability and net premiums for US property and casualty (P&C) reinsurers through the first half of 2022.
The data, collected by RAA from 17 reinsurers globally, shows that the combined ratio for the group improved marginally to 96.1% last year, down from 96.8% for the same period last year.
This was despite the loss ratio deteriorating 1.1 percentage points to 73.5%, as the overall expense ratio improved by 1.8 points to 22.6%.
At the same time, the P&C reinsurers wrote $42.1 billion of net premiums during the H1 period this year, representing a substantial increase of 13.5% over the $37.1 billion recorded in H1 2021.
The data further shows that policyholders’ surplus was $246.3 billion, compared to $292.2 billion at March 31, 2022.
Of the reinsurers included in the survey, General Re achieved the lowest Q2 combined ratio at 76.2%, whilst the highest was once again posted by EMC Re at 125.8%.
And despite the overall improvement in results, nine out of the 17 reinsurers analysed by RAA continued to post a combined ratio above 100% in Q2. Additionally, six of the group fell to a net loss for the quarter, namely AXIS Re, EMC Re, Endurance Assurance Corporation, SiriusPoint America, Swiss Re America and XL Reinsurance America.
For comparison, in Q2 2021 seven of the P&C reinsurers in the group posted a combined ratio above 100%, and seven also posted a net loss for the period.
In aggregate, the group turned a net underwriting loss of $382.7 million in Q2 2022, an improvement on the $275.7 million from the prior year quarter, while net investment income came to $5.3 billion, down from $5.9 billion previously.
General Re reported the biggest underwriting gain in Q2 at $462.1 million, while National Indemnity turned the largest investment income at $4.1 billion and the largest net income at $3.0 billion, but also the largest underwriting loss at $208.6 million.
