Commercial insurance premiums down 17% at AIG

American International Group Inc. reported more than $1 billion in profit in the latest quarter and the New York City-based insurer continues “remediation” of its United States property and casualty business.

AIG released Wednesday its financial results for the first three months of this year. Net income was $1.185 billion in the latest quarter, compared to a net loss of $183 million in Q1 2016.

Net premiums written in commercial insurance dropped 17% from $4.375 billion in Q1 2016 to $3.63 billion in the latest quarter.

“Reinsurance and continued remediation in the U.S. Casualty and Property businesses accounted for a large majority of the decline in net premiums written which is consistent with AIG’s focus on risk selection and targeted growth,” AIG said in a release Wednesday.

The combined ratio in commercial insurance deteriorated 4.5 points from 97.7% in Q1 2016 to 102.2% in the first three months of this year.

Net premiums written were $2.216 billion in liability and financial lines and $1.413 billion in property and special risks.

AIG reported premiums and fees of $3.785 billion in consumer insurance during the latest quarter, essentially unchanged from $3.772 billion in Q1 2016.

The combined ratio in personal insurance was up 2 points from 94.6% in Q1 2016 to 96.6% in the latest quarter.

In its annual report released in February, AIG said it had about 56,400 employees at the end of 2016, down from 66,400 at the end of 2015.

Annual revenues for AIG were $64.4 billion in 2014, $58.3 billion in 2015 and $52.4 billion in 2016. AIG lost $349 million in 2016, compared to net income of $7.52 billion and $2.22 billion in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

In October, 2016, AIG entered into an agreement with Toronto-based fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. to sell, among other things, AIG’s subsidiaries in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela, plus AIG’s insurance operations in Turkey. Fairfax’s insurance subsidiaries include Crum & Forster, Brit PLC, OdysseyRe and Northbridge Insurance.

At the end of 2016, AIG closed its $3.3-billion sale of United Guaranty Corp. to Arch Capital Group Ltd. In November, 2016. AIG closed the sale of its interests in Ascot Underwriting Holdings Ltd. and Ascot Corporate Name Ltd. to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.