A Firm Foundation: How Insurance Supports the Economy

Cash and invested assets of property/casualty insurance companies totaled $1.53 trillion in 2015. This represents 87 percent of total assets, which were $1.75 trillion. Most of these assets were invested in highly liquid securities (high-quality stocks and bonds, for example, rather than real estate), which can be sold quickly to pay claims in the event of a major catastrophe.

 

Investments, Property/Casualty Insurers, 2014-2016 (1)

($ millions, end of year)

  Amount     Percent of total investments
Investment type 2014 2015 2016 2014 2015 2016
Bonds $941,943 $949,702 $973,140 61.45% 62.01% 61.25%
Stocks 345,762 340,252 359,165 22.56 22.22 22.61
     Preferred 14,630 14,025 10,849 0.95 0.92 0.68
     Common 331,133 326,227 348,316 21.60 21.30 21.92
Mortgage loans on real estate 10,008 12,441 15,032 0.65 0.81 0.95
     First liens 9,820 12,209 14,407 0.64 0.80 0.91
     Other than first liens 188 232 625 0.01 0.02 0.04
Real estate 10,165 11,685 12,272 0.66 0.76 0.77
     Properties occupied by company 8,598 8,716 8,933 0.56 0.57 0.56
     Properties held for income production 1,286 2,693 3,061 0.08 0.18 0.19
     Properties held for sale 282 276 278 0.02 0.02 0.02
Cash, cash equivalent and short-term investments 90,754 87,516 92,338 5.92 5.71 5.81
Derivatives 637 652 531 0.04 0.04 0.03
Other invested assets 126,582 121,291 128,704 8.26 7.92 8.10
Receivable for securities 1,104 2,530 1,679 0.07 0.17 0.11
Securities lending reinvested collateral assets 2,681 2,618 2,582 0.17 0.17 0.16
Aggregate write-in for invested assets 3,282 2,860 3,319 0.21 0.19 0.21
Total cash and invested assets $1,532,917 $1,531,547 $1,588,760 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

(1) Includes cash and net admitted assets of property/casualty insurers.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

View Archived Tables

 

Bonds

Property/casualty insurers invest primarily in safe, liquid securities, mainly bonds. These provide stability against underwriting results, which can vary considerably from year to year. The vast majority of bonds are government issued or are high-grade corporates. Bonds in or near default accounted for less than 1 percent (0.16 percent) of all short- and long-term bonds owned by insurers at the end of 2015, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

 

Investments, Property/Casualty Insurers, 2015

(1) Cash and invested net admitted assets, as of December 31, 2015.
(2) Includes mortgage loans on real estate.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

View Archived Graphs