Reinsurance

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Premiums and Reinsurance Related Information

The Company reinsures a portion of its insurance exposures in order to reduce its net liability on individual risks and catastrophe losses. Reinsurance coverage and retentions vary depending on the line of business, location of the risk and nature of loss. The Company’s reinsurance purchases include the following: property reinsurance treaties that reduce exposure to large individual property losses and catastrophe events; casualty reinsurance treaties that reduce its exposure to large individual casualty losses, workers’ compensation catastrophe losses and casualty losses involving multiple claimants or insureds; and facultative reinsurance that reduces exposure on individual policies or risks for losses that exceed treaty reinsurance capacity. Depending on the operating unit, the Company purchases specific additional reinsurance to supplement the above programs.

The following is a summary of reinsurance financial information:


(In thousands)	2020		2019		2018
Written premiums:
Direct	$	7,874,050	$	7,386,759	$	6,973,216
Assumed	973,597		875,459		729,278
Ceded	(1,585,210)		(1,398,719)		(1,269,267)
Total net written premiums	$	7,262,437	$	6,863,499	$	6,433,227

Earned premiums:
Direct	$	7,489,470	$	7,141,427	$	6,851,795
Assumed	941,321		820,705		755,759
Ceded	(1,499,948)		(1,328,844)		(1,236,049)
Total net earned premiums	$	6,930,843	$	6,633,288	$	6,371,505

Ceded losses and loss expenses incurred	$	955,630	$	836,831	$	829,742
Ceded commission earned	$	358,253	$	314,191	$	268,037

The following table presents the rollforward of the allowance for expected credit losses for premiums and fees receivable for the year ended December 31, 2020:


(In thousands)
Allowance for expected credit losses at January 1, 2020	$	19,823
Cumulative effect adjustment resulting from changes in accounting principles	1,270
Provision for expected credit losses	1,790
Allowance for expected credit losses at December 31, 2020	$	22,883

Estimated amounts due from reinsurers are reported net of an allowance for expected credit losses of $7,800,649, $690,127 and $946,965 as of December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The following table presents the rollforward of the allowance for expected credit losses associated with due from reinsurers for the year ended December 31, 2020:


(In thousands)
Allowance for expected credit losses at January 1, 2020	$	690
Cumulative effect adjustment resulting from changes in accounting principles	5,927
Provision for expected credit losses	1,184
Allowance for expected credit losses at December 31, 2020	$	7,801

The following table presents the amounts due from reinsurers as of December 31, 2020:


(In thousands)

Munich Re	$	275,841
Lloyd’s of London	255,184
Swiss Re	182,532
Alleghany Group	182,015
Partner Re	164,535
Hannover Re Group	129,752
Berkshire Hathaway	104,775
Everest Re	102,085
Renaissance Re	101,014
Axis Capital	87,948
Liberty Mutual	66,263
Korean Re	56,091
Fairfax Financial	37,310
Axa Insurance	35,012
Validus Holdings Ltd.	29,599
Arch Capital Group	27,739
Qatar Re	20,321
Other reinsurers less than $20,000	330,929
Subtotal	2,188,945
Residual market pools	243,358
Allowance for expected credit losses	(7,801)
Total	$	2,424,502