Reinsurance industry sees slight improvement in combined ratio

A group of 20 U.S. property-casualty reinsurers wrote US$22.7 billion of net premiums during 2007, a decrease of US$3.1 billion over the same period in 2006.A Reinsurance Association of America (RAA) study notes the combined ratio for the group was 94.7%, a slight improvement over the 94.9% combined ratio reported for 2006.The combined ratio is attributable to a 65.0% loss ratio and an expense ratio of 29.7%, the association added.For the same period in 2006, the loss ratio was 67.1% and the expense ratio was 27.8%.Swiss Reinsurance America Corporation had the highest gross premiums written with US$4.7 billion, followed by Transatlantic/Putnam Reinsurance Company (US$3.945 billion) and XL Reinsurance Company America, Inc. (US$3.942 billion). General Re Group posted the lowest loss ratio at 37.8%, followed by National Indemnity Company (48.1%) and Platinum Underwriters Reinsurance Inc. (61.0%).Policyholders’ surplus for the group at Dec. 31, 2007 was US$75.9 billion, compared to US$74.5 billion for the same period in 2006, the RAA said.