State Farm and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance maintained their spots as the largest and second-largest U.S. Property and Casualty (P&C) writers in 2018, respectively, while Chubb INA Group entered the top ten.
This is according to the Reinsurance News directory of the Top 100 U.S. P&C Insurance Companies, which is based on research data from ratings agency A.M. Best.
The data looks at the net premiums written (NPW) of the top 100 players in the U.S. P&C insurance segment in 2018 when compared with the previous year, revealing that State Farm has maintained its spot at the top of the list despite some fairly significant increases from other players.
At approximately USD 65.5 billion, State Farm’s NPW for the full-year 2018 increased by 1.3% on the previous year, helping the insurer cement its place as the largest writer of U.S. P&C business.
After recording approximately USD 50.3 billion of NPW in 2018, which represents a more than 8% jump on the previous year, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI), a division of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, secured its spot as number two on the list for the second year running.
Progressive Insurance Group saw its U.S. P&C business increase by more than 20% in 2018 to USD 32.6 billion, which saw the firm move up the list two places to third. Allstate Insurance Group grew by 5.2% in the period and recorded NPW of USD 32.3 billion, while 11.2% year-on-year premium growth at Liberty Mutual Insurance completed the top five.
Looking at the rest of the top ten, and 5.4% NPW growth at Travelers resulted in a recorded USD 25.8 billion of premiums in the year, which meant that the insurer stayed in sixth place, once again just ahead of the USD 21.5 billion of NPW recorded by USAA in the period.
Chubb INA Group recorded the most significant NPW increase in the period out of the top ten, of 77.8% to USD 19.6 billion, which puts the firm eighth on the list of the Top 100 U.S. P&C Insurance Companies, compared with twelfth a year earlier.
Interestingly, the only player inside the top ten to actually report a decline in NPW in the period was Nationwide Group, which saw premiums in the region decline by almost 4% to USD 18.1 billion, putting the firm in ninth place.
AIG completes the top ten in 2018, with NPW of USD 14.6 billion, up 1.3% on the previous year. Farmers Insurance Group was the only insurer to fall out of the top ten, driven by increases at other companies and also the fact it recorded a 1.6% decline in premiums in the period, to USD 14 billion.
The full Reinsurance News directory of the Top 100 U.S. P&C Insurance Companies can be accessed here.
