Canadian P&C insurers report profit increases in 2010: SCOR Report

Profits have generally improved for the 36 Canadian property and casualty insurance companies appearing in an updated version of the 2010 SCOR Report.Individual companies writing more than $1 billion in premiums in the report include Axa Canada, Co-Operators General (Consolidated), Desjardins General Insurance Group, Intact Financial Corporation, Royal SunAlliance Group, TD Insurance and Wawanesa Mutual.Overall, the group of 36 insurers posted a collective, after-tax net income of about $1.7 billion in 2010. This represents an improvement over their results in 2009 (a collective net income of $1.36 billion) and in 2008 ($1.03 billion)Of the 36 companies appearing in the report, 25 reported having a greater net income in 2010 than they did in 2009.The group of companies also reported a collective underwriting profit of $770 million in 2010. This represents an improvement over an underwriting profit of $241.7 million in 2009 and an underwriting loss of $6.5 million in 2008.Combined ratios (COR) for the 36 insurers generally improved, with the 2010 COR being 96.35%. This compares favourably to the 98.9% COR in 2009 and the group’s 100.22% COR in 2008.