Insurance Income the 1st Half of 2024 — Strong Premium Growth

According to estimates by Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), the U.S. insurance industry gained $95 billion in the first half of 2024.

Take the $50 billion in capital gains taken by one insurer, and the estimated gains for the first half of the year is $45 billion. The report doesn’t mention the insurer.

Losses in the first half of the year are very close to those in 2023. What they aren’t doing is taking away from surpluses like they have in the past few years. That said, surplus levels — while improving — still aren’t where they were in 2022.

Still looking at surpluses, the report notes extreme weather events are on the rise and so are expensive cyber incidents. Inflation and a growing demand for insurance are also putting pressure on surpluses. So Verisk and the APCIA think an increase in surpluses may be needed going forward.

Robert Gordon is the APCIA senior vice president of policy, research and international. He says the current numbers are good news for insurers still reeling from huge underwriting losses in the past few years.

The underwriting gain — Gordon said — is $4.7 billion in the first half of 2024. That compares to a $22.6 billion loss the first half of last year. He also noted that commercial lines are profitable and are stabilizing. The same can’t be said for personal lines whose rising losses are a growing concern.

Gordon worries about wildfires and hurricanes which can — by the end of the year — make a huge dent in underwriting profits.

Looking at more details, insurers did $463 billion in premiums in the first half of 2024. That’s up from $240 billion a year ago. Earned written premiums rose 11% in the first half of 2024 and hit $436 billion.

The net underwriting gain was $3.7 billion. The significance comes to light when considering the first half of 2023 saw a $23.4 billion loss. There was a $5.6 billion loss in 2022 so the $3.7 billion gain is significant.

Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/3ZCeD2b