Tim Zawacki

The combination of below-average catastrophe losses and superb performance in the largest business line during the three-month period ended June 30 led the US property and casualty industry to post its lowest statutory combined ratio in a second quarter in 18 years.

A rapid turnaround in the private auto business led the US property and casualty industry back to underwriting profitability in 2024 and will help keep it there for the next several years, the newly released S&P Global Market Intelligence 2025 US Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance Market Report projects.

The US insurance industry continues to play a prominent role in the extraordinary growth in growth of the private markets as what previously were classified as alternative investment strategies have become increasingly critical components of carriers' approaches to asset management.

The remarkable success of the annuity business in the first quarter of 2024 created an especially challenging comparison that the US life insurance industry could not match in the opening three months of 2025.

The group led by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. cautioned that it would absorb internally a significant portion of the losses incurred due to the January wildfires in California, and S&P Global Market Intelligence's review of first-quarter statutory financial statements filed by individual group members confirms the significance of the red ink.

The rate of growth in the amount of reinsured US life and annuity business slowed in 2024 to a nine-year low even as primary carriers' reliance on reinsurance continued to serve as a catalyst for generationally strong business volume.

The investment portfolios of US property and casualty insurers currently stand to take a hit from the recent global sell-off in equities, but the magnitude of the impact on the vast majority of the companies in the sector is significantly inflated by one group's uniquely large allocation to common stocks.

Dramatically improved personal lines results in 2024 drove historically favorable underwriting profitability for the US property and casualty industry, an analysis of newly available statutory financial data reveals.

State Farm on Feb. 28 reported that its property and casualty (P&C) business generated a net underwriting loss of $6.1 billion in 2024, which compared favorably to a loss of $14.1 billion in 2023. Our analysis of the disclosures in the annual statements for State Farm Mutual Auto and 11 P&C subsidiaries and affiliates finds that a historically large net underwriting gain in the fourth quarter of 2024 accounted for a meaningful portion of the improvement.

Warren Buffett used his annual Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders' letter to laud Geico Corp.'s results. While past iterations of that messaging focused on the auto insurer's torrid top-line growth, Buffett's 2024 commentary emphasized its remarkable turnaround on the bottom line.

Elevated tariffs on certain auto parts imported from mainland China have contributed modestly to loss-cost inflation for US auto insurers since their first imposition in 2018. Now, though, a more sweeping program — largely but temporarily forestalled prior to implementation on Feb. 4 — poses a potentially broader impact on the industry.

The success of The Progressive Corp. in taking the US private and commercial auto businesses by storm during the past 25 years both sets a foundation for the company's fledgling individual life business and creates the potential that the startup venture can grow significantly from its current very modest base.

Florida's residential and commercial property insurer of last resort on Dec. 4 will present a 2025 operating budget that suggests considerable progress toward shrinking its overall exposure, but not before its 2024 financial results show a significant impact from several landfall-making hurricanes.

A blowout year for individual annuity production in 2024 will lead to the strongest growth for the US life insurance industry in more than two decades, but it will also create a high hurdle for future expansion in a lower interest rate environment.

Rapidly improving private auto results helped the US property and casualty industry in the second quarter to significantly narrow its underwriting losses on a year-over-year basis, keeping a projected

US life insurers acquired $22.87 billion of mortgage loans in the first quarter of 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. While that marked a year-over-year increase of 49.8% from a partic

A rising tide lifted all boats in 2023 as a higher-for-longer interest rate environment drove substantial growth in net investment income for US property and casualty and life insurers. Despite an unc

Long known for their presence in commercial real estate, US life insurers have refined their focus in that area while diversifying into residential whole loans. As a result, according to an S&P Global

Mutual insurance holding company conversions have become routine among regional property and casualty insurers, but the ownership structure rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1990s among larger lif

Mutual insurance holding company conversions have become routine among regional property and casualty insurers, but the ownership structure rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1990s among larger lif