Canadian insurers reported increase in premiums, claims costs for first nine months of 2007

Canadian insurers under the auspices of the federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) saw their collective net income drop Cdn$211.9 million over the first three quarters when compared to the same period last year.OSFI’s recent quarterly filings show that Canadian insurers regulated by OSFI claimed a net income of Cdn$2.26 billion for the first three quarters of 2007, compared to the Cdn$2.472 billion net income that insurers reported in the first three quarters of 2006.Insurers filing for the first three quarters of 2007 reported almost Cdn$1 billion more in net premiums written than in 2006 with insurers reporting Cdn$18 billion in net premiums written during this year’s first nine months, as opposed to Cdn$17.1 billion during the same period in 2006.On the other hand, total claims and expenses in the first three quarters topped out at about Cdn$16.1 billion, whereas the figure for the same period last year was Cdn$15.2 billion.Claims ratios are up in property and auto lines.In personal property lines, companies filing with OSFI showed a jump in the claims ratio from 63.51% in the first nine months of 2006 to 69.29% in the same period in 2007. In commercial lines, the claims ratio jumped from 54.30% to 60.55% over the same period.In the auto insurance sector, the first nine months of 2007 claims ratio of 68.64% (including liability and personal accident) was an increase over the 67.35% auto claims ratio recorded in the same period of 2006.Net incurred liability in the first three quarters of 2007 was down about Cdn$20 million over the same period last year.