Florida Insurers and Hurricane Ian

[The_Polymath]

News off the wire.

US insurers suffer decade-worst underwriting performance in 2022

Lack of FL rate rises coming home to roost.

US insurers last year suffered their worst underwriting performance since 2011, and firms are being “hammered by increasing input costs, natural catastrophes, legal system abuse, and resistance in some states to adequate rates”, a trade body has said.

Estimates published by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and risk modelling firm Verisk on Tuesday showed that US property and casualty insurers took a $26.9bn net underwriting loss in 2022, due to big payouts including Hurricane Ian, compared with $3.8bn a year earlier. After a big contribution from investments, the insurers’ net income was calculated to have fallen by around a third to $41bn.

Robert Gordon, senior vice president at APCIA, said insurers were “faced with a significant challenge to close the rate gap in order to meet their growing cost of capital”.