Property & Casualty | P&C Insurance News & Analysis

From Our Desk Original analysis · P&C

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42%, 45% or 52%: Swiss Re's Quiet Half Has Three Insured Shares

Global insured natural catastrophe losses ran $42 billion in the first half of 2026, 16% below the ten-year average and the lowest first half since 2020. Whether that half's insured share of economic loss reads high or low depends entirely on which baseline Swiss Re's own figures are measured against.

By Sam · 4 min read · Aug 31

ReinsuranceAug 31 · 5 min

AM Best: Big Four Kept Cat Appetite by Raising Attachments and Exiting Aggregate Covers

Hannover Re grew its June and July book 12.3% while risk-adjusted prices fell 4.5%. AM Best says Europe's Big Four held property catastrophe appetite only by raising attachments and exiting aggregate covers.

Cat ModelingAug 31 · 5 min

State Farm Patents a Crowdsourced Catastrophe Loss Engine

State Farm's US Patent 12,700,043, granted August 4, 2026, fuses a weather feed with geotagged crowdsourced photos to estimate damage at a single address, and lets a neighbor's claim trigger the assessment.

ReinsuranceAug 28 · 5 min

AmCoastal's $25.5M Cat Bond Buys First-Event Retention Down to $23.5M

American Coastal placed a $25.5 million Armor Re II 2026-2 cat bond on August 1, cutting its first-event Florida named storm retention from $49 million to $23.5 million for about $8.4 million, a 33% rate on line.

P&C InsuranceAug 28 · 5 min

Public D&O Primary Rate Turns After Sixteen Quarters While Aon's Blended Index Falls 1.9%

Aon's Q2 2026 public D&O index fell 1.9% on cost per million while like-for-like primary renewals rose 0.6%, the first primary increase in sixteen quarters. The gap is limit buying and excess drag, not base rate.

P&C InsuranceAug 28 · 4 min

GEICO's Combined Ratio Hit 91.2% in Q2 2026. A Third of the Move Was Expense.

GEICO's combined ratio rose 7.7 points to 91.2% in Q2 2026, but only 4.8 of those points came from losses. The rest came from a 27.3% jump in commissions and advertising, spent into a falling auto rate level.

P&C InsuranceAug 28 · 5 min

TD Bank Patents a Claims Fraud Model That Scores the Claimant's Network

TD Bank won US Patent 12,711,554 on August 18, 2026 for a claims fraud model that walks five layers out through shared phones, emails and VINs, then denies follow-on transactions from parties tied to the flagged claim.

ReinsuranceAug 27 · 4 min

Munich Re and Swiss Re Post Sub-80% Ratios Atop AM Best's 50 Largest Reinsurers

Munich Re reclaimed the top of AM Best's 50 largest reinsurers on a 12.9% euro move, not on growth: its revenue fell 3.7% pre-forex while a 73.5% combined ratio hands cedents leverage into January 2027.

P&C InsuranceAug 27 · 7 min

Cargo Theft Losses Double to $304.6M as Incident Counts Fall 26%

Cargo theft losses doubled to $304.6 million in Q2 2026 while incidents fell 26% to 677 and the average reported load hit $564,009 (Verisk CargoNet). The severity shift lands above the primary cargo attachment.

On the Wire Sep 7

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Earnings Pulse Latest P&C carrier filings · Q2 2026

All filings →

Q2 2026 16 carriers have reported. Median combined ratio 90.8, with 11 of 16 improving vs. PY and all 16 underwriting below 100.

Travelers

83.6CR

6.7pt vs PY

Q2 2026

Chubb

83.9CR

6.5pt vs PY

Q2 2026

AIG

89.0CR

0.3pt vs PY

Q2 2026

Allstate

86.6CR

4.5pt vs PY

Q2 2026

Hartford

94.2CR

2.6pt vs PY

Q2 2026 · Business Insurance

Progressive

87.3CR

1.1pt vs PY

Q2 2026

Cincinnati

98.2CR

5.6pt vs PY

Q2 2026

W. R. Berkley

90.0CR

1.6pt vs PY

Q2 2026

Combined ratios as reported in each carrier's most recent 10-Q. Segment-level and derived figures are labeled on the card. Lower is better; ▼ marks improvement vs. the prior-year period. Latest filing August 7, 2026.

Cat Watch Active perils & recent federal declarations

NHC & FEMA →

Monitoring

Marie

Hurricane

Monitoring

Lowell

Hurricane

Monitoring

Karina

Tropical Storm

Declared

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides

Major Disaster · KY · Jun 26 – Jun 30 · Ohio County, Owsley County, Grayson County +17 more

Sep 1

Declared

Designated areas

Declared

Earthquake

Major Disaster · HI · May 22 · Hawaii County

Sep 1

Declared

Designated area

Declared

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, And Tornadoes

Major Disaster · ND · Jun 7 – Jun 9 · Mercer County, Divide County, Burke County +4 more

Sep 1

Declared

Designated areas

CAS Radar Casualty Actuarial Society research & announcements

CAS.org →

Sep 2

Publication

Actuarial Review – September/October 2026

Actuarial Review

Aug 17

Research

CAS Showcases Research and Thought Leadership at the 61st Actuarial Research Conference

CAS

Aug 11

Update

Explore Motivation, Feedback, and Innovation at the Next CAS Leadership Insights Exchange

CAS

Aug 7

Research

CAS Bias and Insurance Research Author Receives American Academy of Actuaries Research Award

CAS

Aug 4

Update

New Candidate Support Resources: Exams 8 & 9 Practice Items and Solutions

CAS

Jul 31

Research

CAS Research Introduces New Framework for Measuring Social Inflation

CAS Research

From Our Desk Original analysis · P&C

42%, 45% or 52%: Swiss Re's Quiet Half Has Three Insured Shares

AM Best: Big Four Kept Cat Appetite by Raising Attachments and Exiting Aggregate Covers

State Farm Patents a Crowdsourced Catastrophe Loss Engine

AmCoastal's $25.5M Cat Bond Buys First-Event Retention Down to $23.5M

Public D&O Primary Rate Turns After Sixteen Quarters While Aon's Blended Index Falls 1.9%

GEICO's Combined Ratio Hit 91.2% in Q2 2026. A Third of the Move Was Expense.

TD Bank Patents a Claims Fraud Model That Scores the Claimant's Network

Munich Re and Swiss Re Post Sub-80% Ratios Atop AM Best's 50 Largest Reinsurers

Cargo Theft Losses Double to $304.6M as Incident Counts Fall 26%

Earnings Pulse Latest P&C carrier filings · Q2 2026

Cat Watch Active perils & recent federal declarations

Marie

Lowell

Karina

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides

Earthquake

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, And Tornadoes

CAS Radar Casualty Actuarial Society research & announcements

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