6. Property and Casualty Insurance Activity

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Insurance [Abstract]

6. Property and Casualty Insurance Activity

Premiums Earned

Premiums written, ceded and earned are as follows:

	Direct	Assumed	Ceded	Net
Three months ended March 31, 2020
Premiums written	$    36,696,929	$                     -	$(13,506,255)	$  23,190,674
Change in unearned premiums	5,904,700	-	(2,153,924)	3,750,776
Premiums earned	$    42,601,629	$                     -	$(15,660,179)	$  26,941,450
Three months ended March 31, 2019
Premiums written	$    37,488,548	$                (34)	$  (7,127,909)	$  30,360,605
Change in unearned premiums	(628,067)	195	(136,844)	(764,716)
Premiums earned	$    36,860,481	$                161	$  (7,264,753)	$  29,595,889

Premium receipts in advance of the policy effective date are recorded as advance premiums. The balance of advance premiums as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 was $3,143,879 and $3,191,512, respectively.

Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves

The following table provides a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expense (“LAE”) reserves:

	Three months ended
	March 31,
	2020	2019
Balance at beginning of period	$  80,498,611	$  56,197,106
Less reinsurance recoverables	(15,728,224)	(15,671,247)
Net balance, beginning of period	64,770,387	40,525,859
Incurred related to:
Current year	16,512,475	24,655,975
Prior years	(126,654)	4,478,249
Total incurred	16,385,821	29,134,224
Paid related to:
Current year	5,787,129	7,731,086
Prior years	13,777,236	8,405,440
Total paid	19,564,365	16,136,526
Net balance at end of period	61,591,843	53,523,557
Add reinsurance recoverables	16,259,256	15,586,714
Balance at end of period	$  77,851,099	$  69,110,271

Incurred losses and LAE are net of reinsurance recoveries under reinsurance contracts of $5,866,897 and $3,135,894 for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Prior year incurred loss and LAE development is based upon estimates by line of business and accident year. Prior year loss and LAE development incurred during the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 was $126,654 favorable and $4,478,249 unfavorable, respectively. During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company increased case reserves for certain older open liability claims, which primarily affected the ultimate loss projections for commercial lines business. This was in response to  management’s detailed review of open liability claims that resulted in new assessments of carried case and incurred but not reported (“IBNR”) reserve levels, giving consideration to both Company and industry trends.

Loss and LAE reserves

The reserving process for loss and LAE reserves provides for the Company’s best estimate at a particular point in time of the ultimate unpaid cost of all losses and LAE incurred, including settlement and administration of losses, and is based on facts and circumstances then known including losses that have occurred but that have not yet been reported. The process relies on standard actuarial reserving methodologies, judgments relative to estimates of ultimate claim severity and frequency, the length of time before losses will develop to their ultimate level (‘tail’ factors), and the likelihood of changes in the law or other external factors that are beyond the Company’s control. Several actuarial reserving methodologies are used to estimate required loss reserves. The process produces carried reserves set by management based upon the actuaries’ best estimate and is the cumulative combination of the best estimates made by line of business, accident year, and loss and LAE. The amount of loss and LAE reserves for individual reported claims (the “case reserve”) is determined by the claims department and changes over time as new information is gathered. Such information is critical to the review of appropriate IBNR reserves and includes a review of coverage applicability, comparative liability on the part of the insured, injury severity, property damage, replacement cost estimates, and any other information considered pertinent to estimating the exposure presented by the claim. The amounts of loss and LAE reserves for unreported claims and development on known claims (IBNR reserves) are determined using historical information aggregated by line of insurance as adjusted to current conditions. Since this process produces loss reserves set by management based upon the actuaries’ best estimate, there is no explicit or implicit provision for uncertainty in the carried loss reserves.

Due to the inherent uncertainty associated with the reserving process, the ultimate liability may differ, perhaps substantially, from the original estimate. Such estimates are regularly reviewed and updated and any resulting adjustments are included in the current period’s results. Reserves are closely monitored and are recomputed periodically using the most recent information on reported claims and a variety of statistical techniques. On at least a quarterly basis, the Company reviews by line of business existing reserves, new claims, changes to existing case reserves, and paid losses with respect to the current and prior periods. Several methods are used, varying by line of business and accident year, in order to select the estimated period-end loss reserves. These methods include the following:

Paid Loss Development – historical patterns of paid loss development are used to project future paid loss emergence in order to estimate required reserves.

Incurred Loss Development – historical patterns of incurred loss development, reflecting both paid losses and changes in case reserves, are used to project future incurred loss emergence in order to estimate required reserves.

Paid Bornhuetter-Ferguson (“BF”) – an estimated loss ratio for a particular accident year is determined, and is weighted against the portion of the accident year claims that have been paid, based on historical paid loss development patterns. The estimate of required reserves assumes that the remaining unpaid portion of a particular accident year will pay out at a rate consistent with the estimated loss ratio for that year. This method can be useful for situations where an unusually high or low amount of paid losses exists at the early stages of the claims development process.

Incurred Bornhuetter-Ferguson (“BF”) - an estimated loss ratio for a particular accident year is determined, and is weighted against the portion of the accident year claims that have been reported, based on historical incurred loss development patterns. The estimate of required reserves assumes that the remaining unreported portion of a particular accident year will pay out at a rate consistent with the estimated loss ratio for that year. This method can be useful for situations where an unusually high or low amount of reported losses exists at the early stages of the claims development process.

Incremental Claim-Based Methods – historical patterns of incremental incurred losses and paid LAE during various stages of development are reviewed and assumptions are made regarding average loss and LAE development applied to remaining claims inventory. Such methods more properly reflect changes in the speed of claims closure and the relative adequacy of case reserve levels at various stages of development. These methods may provide a more accurate estimate of IBNR for lines of business with relatively few remaining open claims but for which significant recent settlement activity has occurred.

Frequency / Severity Based Methods – historical measurements of claim frequency and average paid claim size (severity) are reviewed for more mature accident years where a majority of claims have been reported and/or closed. These historical averages are trended forward to more recent periods in order to estimate ultimate losses for newer accident years that are not yet fully developed. These methods are useful for lines of business with slow and/or volatile loss development patterns, such as liability lines where information pertaining to individual cases may not be completely known for many years. The claim frequency and severity information for older periods can then be used as reasonable measures for developing a range of estimates for more recent immature periods.

Management’s best estimate of required reserves is generally based on an average of the methods above, with appropriate weighting of methods based on the line of business and accident year being projected. In some cases, additional methods or historical data from industry sources are employed to supplement the projections derived from the methods listed above.

Three key assumptions that materially affect the estimate of loss reserves are the loss ratio estimate for the current accident year used in the BF methods, the loss development factor selections used in the loss development methods, and the loss severity assumptions used in the frequency / severity method described above. The loss ratio estimates used in the BF methods are selected after reviewing historical accident year loss ratios adjusted for rate changes, trend, and mix of business. The severity assumptions used in the frequency / severity method are determined by reviewing historical average claim severity for older more mature accident periods, trended forward to less mature accident periods.

The Company is not aware of any claim trends that have emerged or that would cause future adverse development that have not already been contemplated in setting current carried reserves levels.

In New York State, lawsuits for negligence are subject to certain limitations and must be commenced within three years from the date of the accident or are otherwise barred. Accordingly, the Company’s exposure to unreported claims (“pure” IBNR) for accident dates of March 31, 2017 and prior is limited, although there remains the possibility of adverse development on reported claims (“case development” IBNR). In certain rare circumstances states have retroactively revised a statute of limitations. The Company is not aware of any such effort that would have a material impact on the Company’s results.

The following is information about incurred and paid claims development as of March 31, 2020, net of reinsurance, as well as the cumulative reported claims by accident year and total IBNR reserves as of March 31, 2020 included in the net incurred loss and allocated expense amounts. The historical information regarding incurred and paid claims development for the years ended December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2019 is presented as supplementary unaudited information. 

All Lines of Business
(in thousands, except reported claims data)
											As of
	Incurred Loss and Allocated Loss Adjustment Expenses, Net of Reinsurance										March 31, 2020
	For the Years Ended December 31,									For the three months ended March 31, 2020	IBNR	Cumulative Number of Reported Claims by Accident Year
Accident Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
	(Unaudited 2011 - 2019)									(Unaudited)
2011	$7,603	$7,678	$8,618	$9,440	$9,198	$9,066	$9,144	$9,171	$9,127	$      9,128	$      (1)	1,914
2012		9,539	9,344	10,278	10,382	10,582	10,790	10,791	11,015	10,792	87	4,704	(1)
2013			10,728	9,745	9,424	9,621	10,061	10,089	10,607	10,607	(12)	1,561
2014				14,193	14,260	14,218	14,564	15,023	16,381	16,376	289	2,136
2015					22,340	21,994	22,148	22,491	23,386	23,042	154	2,555
2016						26,062	24,941	24,789	27,887	27,961	538	2,877
2017							31,605	32,169	35,304	35,873	631	3,380
2018								54,455	56,351	58,073	2,391	4,188
2019									75,092	73,173	12,027	4,365
2020										15,760	6,202	731
									Total	$  280,784
(1) Reported claims for accident year 2012 includes 3,406 claims from Superstorm Sandy.
All Lines of Business
(in thousands)
	Cumulative Paid Loss and Allocated Loss Adjustment Expenses, Net of Reinsurance
	For the Years Ended December 31,									For the three months ended March 31, 2020
Accident Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
	(Unaudited 2011 - 2019)									(Unaudited)
2011	$3,740	$5,117	$6,228	$7,170	$8,139	$8,540	$8,702	$8,727	$8,789	$      8,991
2012		3,950	5,770	7,127	8,196	9,187	10,236	10,323	10,428	10,442
2013			3,405	5,303	6,633	7,591	8,407	9,056	9,717	9,728
2014				5,710	9,429	10,738	11,770	13,819	14,901	15,150
2015					12,295	16,181	18,266	19,984	21,067	21,448
2016						15,364	19,001	21,106	23,974	24,371
2017							16,704	24,820	28,693	28,969
2018								32,383	44,516	46,178
2019									40,933	50,983
2020										5,469
									Total	$  221,729
Net liability for unpaid loss and allocated loss adjustment expenses for the accident years presented										$    59,055
All outstanding liabilities before 2011, net of reinsurance										100
Liabilities for loss and allocated loss adjustment expenses, net of reinsurance										$    59,154

Reported claim counts are measured on an occurrence or per event basis.  A single claim occurrence could result in more than one loss type or claimant; however, the Company counts claims at the occurrence level as a single claim regardless of the number of claimants or claim features involved.

The reconciliation of the net incurred and paid loss development tables to the loss and LAE reserves in the consolidated balance sheet is as follows:

	As of
(in thousands)	March 31, 2020
Liabilities for loss and loss adjustment expenses, net of reinsurance	$                   59,154
Total reinsurance recoverable on unpaid losses	16,259
Unallocated loss adjustment expenses	2,437
Total gross liability for loss and LAE reserves	$                   77,851

Reinsurance

Through June 30, 2019, the Company’s quota share reinsurance treaties were on a July 1 through June 30 fiscal year basis. Effective December 15, 2019, the Company entered into a quota share reinsurance treaty for its personal lines business, which primarily consists of homeowners’ policies, covering the period from December 15, 2019 through December 31, 2020 (“2019/2020 Treaty”). The Company’s quota share reinsurance treaties in effect during the three months ended March 31, 2019 for its personal lines business were covered under a treaty covering a two-year period from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019 (“2017/2019 Treaty”). The treaty in effect during the three months ended March 31, 2019 was covered under the July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 treaty year (“2018/2019 Treaty Year”).

Effective July 1, 2019, the 2017/2019 Treaty and the commercial umbrella treaty expired on a run-off basis; these treaties were not renewed. The Company entered into new excess of loss and catastrophe reinsurance treaties effective July 1, 2019. Material terms for reinsurance treaties in effect for the treaty years shown below are as follows:

	Treaty Year
	December 15, 2019	July 1, 2019	July 1, 2018
	to	to	to
Line of Business	December 31, 2020	December 14, 2019	June 30, 2019
Personal Lines:
Homeowners, dwelling fire and
and canine legal liability
Quota share treaty:
Percent ceded	25%	None	10%
	Treaty Year
	December 15, 2019	July 1, 2019	July 1, 2018
	to	to	to
Line of Business	June 30, 2020	December 14, 2019	June 30, 2019
Personal Lines:
Homeowners, dwelling fire and
and canine legal liability
Quota share treaty:
Risk retained on intial $1,000,000
of losses	$                750,000	$             1,000,000	$               900,000
Losses per occurrence subject to
quota share reinsurance coverage	$             1,000,000	None	$            1,000,000
Excess of loss coverage and facultative
facility coverage (1)	$             9,000,000	$             9,000,000	$            9,000,000
	in excess of	in excess of	in excess of
	1,000,000	$             1,000,000	$            1,000,000
Total reinsurance coverage per occurrence	$             9,250,000	$             9,000,000	$            9,100,000
Losses per occurrence subject to
reinsurance coverage	$           10,000,000	$           10,000,000	$          10,000,000
Expiration date	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2019
Catastrophe Reinsurance:
Initial loss subject to personal lines
quota share treaty	$             7,500,000	None	$            5,000,000
Risk retained per catastrophe
occurrence (2)	$             5,625,000	$             7,500,000	$            4,500,000
Catastrophe loss coverage in excess of
quota share coverage (3)	$         602,500,000	$         602,500,000	$        445,000,000
Reinstatement premium
protection (4) (5)	Yes	Yes	Yes

(1) For personal lines, includes the addition of an automatic facultative facility allowing KICO to obtain homeowners single risk coverage up to $10,000,000 in total insured value, which covers direct losses from $3,500,000 to $10,000,000.

(2) Plus losses in excess of catastrophe coverage.

(3) Catastrophe coverage is limited on an annual basis to two times the per occurrence amounts. Duration of 168 consecutive hours for a catastrophe occurrence from windstorm, hail, tornado, hurricane and cyclone.

(4) Effective July 1, 2018, reinstatement premium protection for $210,000,000 of catastrophe coverage in excess of $5,000,000.

(5) Effective July 1, 2019, reinstatement premium protection for $292,500,000 of catastrophe coverage in excess of $7,500,000.

	Treaty Year
	July 1, 2019	July 1, 2018
	to	to
Line of Business	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2019
Personal Lines:
Personal Umbrella
Quota share treaty:
Percent ceded - first $1,000,000 of coverage	90%	90%
Percent ceded - excess of $1,000,000 dollars of coverage	100%	100%
Risk retained	$        100,000	$        100,000
Total reinsurance coverage per occurrence	$     4,900,000	$     4,900,000
Losses per occurrence subject to quota share reinsurance coverage	$     5,000,000	$     5,000,000
Expiration date	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2019
Commercial Lines:
General liability commercial policies
Quota share treaty	None	None
Risk retained	$        750,000	$        750,000
Excess of loss coverage above risk retained	$     3,750,000	$     3,750,000
	in excess of	in excess of
	$        750,000	$        750,000
Total reinsurance coverage per occurrence	$     3,750,000	$     3,750,000
Losses per occurrence subject to reinsurance coverage	$     4,500,000	$     4,500,000
Commercial Umbrella
Quota share treaty:	None
Percent ceded - first $1,000,000 of coverage		90%
Percent ceded - excess of $1,000,000 of coverage		100%
Risk retained		$        100,000
Total reinsurance coverage per occurrence		$     4,900,000
Losses per occurrence subject to quota share reinsurance coverage		$     5,000,000
Expiration date		June 30, 2019

The Company’s reinsurance program has been structured to enable the Company to grow its premium volume while maintaining regulatory capital and other financial ratios generally within or below the expected ranges used for regulatory oversight purposes. The reinsurance program also provides income as a result of ceding commissions earned pursuant to the quota share reinsurance contracts. The Company’s participation in reinsurance arrangements does not relieve the Company of its obligations to policyholders.

Ceding Commission Revenue

The Company earns ceding commission revenue under its quota share reinsurance agreements based on: (i) a fixed provisional commission rate at which provisional ceding commissions are earned, and (ii) a sliding scale of commission rates and ultimate treaty year loss ratios on the policies reinsured under each of these agreements based upon which contingent ceding commissions are earned. The sliding scale includes minimum and maximum commission rates in relation to specified ultimate loss ratios. The commission rate and contingent ceding commissions earned increases when the estimated ultimate loss ratio decreases and, conversely, the commission rate and contingent ceding commissions earned decreases when the estimated ultimate loss ratio increases.

The Company’s estimated ultimate treaty year loss ratios (the “Loss Ratio(s)”) for treaties in effect during the three months ended March 31, 2020 are attributable to contracts under the 2019/2020 Treaty. The Loss Ratios for treaties in effect for the three months ended March 31, 2019 are attributable to contracts under the 2017/2019 Treaty for the 2018/2019 Treaty Year, which expired on June 30, 2019 and was not renewed.

Under the 2019/2020 Treaty and the 2017/2019 Treaty for the 2018/2019 Treaty Year, the Company received an upfront fixed provisional rate that is not subject to a sliding scale contingent adjustment. In addition to the treaties that were in effect during the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Loss Ratios from prior years’ treaties are subject to change as incurred losses from those periods increase or decrease, resulting in an increase or decrease in the commission rate and contingent ceding commissions earned.

Ceding commission revenue consists of the following:

	Three months ended
	March 31,
	2020	2019
Provisional ceding commissions earned	$   3,720,360	$   1,317,751
Contingent ceding commissions earned	110,739	(40,068)
	$   3,831,099	$   1,277,683

Provisional ceding commissions are settled monthly. Balances due from reinsurers for contingent ceding commissions on quota share treaties are settled annually based on the Loss Ratio of each treaty year that ends on June 30. As discussed above, the Loss Ratios from prior years’ treaties are subject to change as incurred losses from those periods develop, resulting in an increase or decrease in the commission rate and contingent ceding commissions earned. As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, net contingent ceding commissions payable to reinsurers under all treaties was approximately $2,775,000 and $2,886,000, respectively, which is recorded in reinsurance balances payable on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets.