The first indication of the financial impact of Rita and Katrina is St Paul/Travelers’ announcement that they took a $1 billion charge (after tax) to account for the costs of the two storms in the most recent quarter.
Interestingly, gross premium income was only up 2% from the prior year’s quarter. This is yet more evidence of the current soft market in property and casualty insurance. As noted here previously, rates are already heading back up as insurers seek to rebuild reserves after taking hits for the current storm season. Which is not yet over…
Return on equity was a strong 11.9% for the first nine months on an operating basis, even after including the hurricane impact. Without those storms, RoE would have been a very healthy 18.4%.
What does this mean for you?
As indicated here before, strong financial results usually mean prices will be coming down for insurance. However, the recent weather has likely hit confidence levels as well as financials. Thus, I would expect pricing to firm up rather than continue to soften.
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