OSFI Q3 figures show losses continue to increase dramatically in auto lines

Canadian and foreign insurers licensed with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) continued to take a beating in the auto-personal accident category (which includes accident benefits), according to OSFI’s 2009 Q3 results.
Canadian insurers saw their collective claims ratio in the auto personal accident segment jump from 98.84% as of the end of 2008 Q3 up to 120.48% as of the end of 2009 Q3.
Foreign insurers licensed with OSFI fared even worse in OSFI’s auto-personal accident area, reporting a claims ratio of 185.10% in 2009 Q3. That’s a substantial increase from the 125.86% claims ratio reported in 2008 Q3.
In the auto segment, most of the damage seems contained to the personal accident category. For both Canadian and foreign insurers, auto liability claims ratios decreased over last year.
For Canadian insurers, the auto liability claims ratio dipped from 68.52% in 2008 Q3 to 65.66% in 2009 Q3. For foreign insurers, their auto liability claims ratio went from 79.87% in 2008 Q3 to 69.07% in 2009 Q3.
Overall, insurers reporting to OSFI showed a net income of Cdn$1.42 billion as of the end of 2009 Q3. That compares to a profit of Cdn$2.15 billion as of the end of 2008 Q3. 
Despite recording a lower profit than last year, Canadian insurers wrote more net written premium in 2009 Q3 (Cdn$19.1 billion) than they did in 2008 Q3 (Cdn$18.2 billion).
Foreign insurers wrote marginally less net premium in 2009 Q3 (Cdn$5.2 billion) than they did in 2008 Q3 (Cdn$5.56 billion).
Net investment income for Canadian insurers was not significantly different in 2009 Q3 (Cdn$1.66 billion) than it was in 2008 Q3 (Cdn$1.7 billion). Foreign insurers reported net investment income of Cdn$703 million in 2009 Q3, as opposed to Cdn$786 million in 2008 Q3.