US Property & Casualty Quarterly 4Q18

The US P&C industry delivered good but not great results in 2018, with a best-in-three-years ROE of 8.0%. Premium growth accelerated to its fastest pace in more than a decade. The burden from cat losses was down from the 2017 record despite a 4Q18 surge, allowing the industry to eke out a small underwriting profit for the first time since 2015.

Net investment gains were up moderately. A large transaction that led to a USD 5.6 billion loss reported in "other income" in 2017 was not repeated. All in, aggregate net income nearly doubled, to about USD 60 billion. Industry surplus edged down slightly, as the boost from net income was offset by a sizable unrealized capital loss due to unsupportive 4Q18 financial market developments and a double-digit jump in statutory dividends.