INSURANCE INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE
- World insurance premiums (life and nonlife) totaled $4.1 trillion in 2007, according to Swiss Re.
- There were 747 mergers and acquisitions in the global insurance industry in 2007, with a reported value of $138 billion, according to Conning Research and Consulting.
- Property/casualty (P/C) insurance net written premiums declined by $2.7 billion, or 0.6 percent in 2007, following a 4.2 percent increase in 2006, according to ISO. The 2007 decline was the first since 1943.
- During the same period, life/health (L/H) insurance premiums written increased by 5.7 percent, based on data from Highline/National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
- There were 2,723 P/C insurance companies and 1,190 L/H insurance companies in the U.S. in 2007. Total P/C cash and invested assets were $1.3 trillion in 2007. L/H cash and invested assets totaled $3 trillion in 2007. The P/C insurance industry’s rate of return on a statutory basis dropped from 13.3 percent in 2006 to 11.9 in 2007. The L/H insurance industry’s rate of return on a GAAP basis dropped from 12 percent in 2006 to 11 percent in 2007.
- The U.S. P/C industry posted a $19.0 billion net gain on underwriting in 2007, down from $31.1 billion in 2006, reflecting a weakness in premiums and increases in the cost of providing insurance protection, according to ISO.
- Catastrophe losses dropped from $9.5 billion in 2006 to $6.7 billion in 2007. By contrast, losses surged to $25.2 billion in 2008.
