Best Report: Investments Suck, WC Still Too Cheap

The property/casualty industry continued to report strong growth in net written premiums for both the fourth quarter and full-year 2002 amid robust price increases across all sectors, according to the A.M. Best Co. Earnings for property/casualty insurers improved, despite another round of heavy loss reserve charges compounded by a resurgence of natural catastrophe losses and soft financial markets that caused surplus to continue its downward slide. A.M. Best data shows that net written premiums rose approximately 15.3% in the fourth quarter and 11.6% for the full year, while the combined rat...