The Reinsurance Association of America (RAA) has released data on the performance of 17 U.S. property and casualty (P&C) reinsurers over 2018, showing that the group generated a net underwriting loss of $2.95 billion for the year.
Losses were reflected in a combined ratio of 103.8% across the group, and compare with a net underwriting loss of $4.23 billion in 2017, as well as a combined ratio of 108.2%.
Results were impacted primarily by U.S catastrophe events in the second half of 2018, including Hurricanes Florence and Michael and the wildfires in California.
RAA data shows that the U.S P&C sector performed well up until this point, posting a combined net income of $5.1 billion for the first half of 2018, compared with $286 million in the previous year.
Nevertheless, the loss ratio for the group of reinsurers improved year-on-year from 83.1% in 2017 to 79.4% in 2018.
This was also reflected in the expense ratio, which improved slightly from 25.9% in 2017 to 24.4% in 2018, the RAA explained.
Additionally, results were supported by an improvement in other income, which showed a combined loss of $38.1 million in 2018, compared with a loss of $8.4 billion in 2017.
On average, the U.S P&C sector wrote more business last year than in 2017, RAA said, with net written premiums totalling $59.3 billion in 2018, compared with $49.0 billion in the previous year.
Net income also improved significantly for the group of reinsurers analysed RAA, increasing from $1.4 billion in 2017 to $8.7 billion in 2018.
