“We’ll keep prioritizing your needs and driving financial resilience to help you minimize your loss and maximize your gain.”
2022 was one of the best years in FM Global history—and that truly speaks to the resilience you’ve all worked hard to build.
Yet for the industry, it was a volatile year. Inflation, supply chain issues and rising interest rates affected the economy, while weather-related events and their secondary perils devastated communities. Also, impacts in the reinsurance community filtered down to the primary market.
Despite all of this, you, our clients, experienced less volatility and more financial resilience in terms of pricing, coverage and capacity changes.
Premium trends
In 2022, our consolidated gross in-force premium grew by 12.2% to a high of US$8.8 billion, and new business acquisition was 40% over our goal.
Our large commercial property business grew at a rate of 13.5% to US$7 billion, while AFM, positioned in the commercial property middle market, grew by 8.5% to US$1.4 billion. On a consolidated basis, FM Global and AFM are the sources of 95% of our overall premium in-force, with Mutual Boiler Re and FM Global Cargo representing the balance.
This unprecedented growth speaks to the strength of our partnerships and our like-minded philosophy that the majority of loss is preventable.
Loss trends
Our consolidated loss ratio for the year was 49.9%—significantly lower than the planned ratio of 66%. Our risk loss ratio decreased to 34.6% and was below our plan of 37.3%.
Extreme weather events last year, including Hurricane Ian, caused billions in damages for the industry. There were also wildland fires, hailstorms, tornadoes, floods and more, all of which resulted in billions in uninsured losses. Yet, our natural hazard loss ratio last year was 12.8%, below our plan of 25.1%.
Helping you feel confident about the unknowns is important to us. And it’s why we worked hard last year to protect your purpose by helping you identify, prioritize and then mitigate exposures through our science-based solutions.
Expense trends
Our expense ratio in 2022 was 26.8%, slightly higher than our 2021 result of 26.6%.
Our low expense ratio is due to our increase in operational efficiencies such as business improvements, faster product development and flawless delivery.
Looking ahead
We anticipate more volatility in 2023, as another year of a hard market. We’re likely to see continued pricing, coverage and capacity challenges, as well as significant rises in reinsurance rates.
Through it all, we’ll continue to deliver strength and stability, both financially and through our science-based solutions. We’ll keep prioritizing your needs and driving financial resilience to help you minimize your loss and maximize your gain. At every step, we’ll look to raise the bar so that your organization’s future remains in your hands.