Property and Casualty Unpaid Claims and Claim Expenses

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Property and Casualty Unpaid Claims and Claim Expenses

The following table is a summary reconciliation of the beginning and ending Property and Casualty unpaid claims and claim expense reserves for the periods indicated. The table presents reserves on both gross and net (after reinsurance) bases. The total net Property and Casualty insurance claims and claim expense incurred amounts are reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The end of the period gross reserve (before reinsurance) balances and the reinsurance recoverable balances are reflected on a gross basis in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.



($ in thousands)	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2018		2017			2018			2017
Property and Casualty
Beginning gross reserves⁽¹⁾	$	352,817	$	329,831		$	319,182		$	307,757
Less: reinsurance recoverables	62,883		58,897			57,409			61,199
Net reserves, beginning of period ⁽²⁾	289,934		270,934			261,773			246,558
Incurred claims and claim expenses:
Claims occurring in the current period	140,035		115,393			408,028			386,945
Decrease in estimated reserves for claims occurring in prior periods⁽³⁾	—		(500		)	(300		)	(2,100		)
Total claims and claim expenses incurred ⁽⁴⁾	140,035		114,893			407,728			384,845
Claims and claim expense payments for claims occurring during:
Current period	106,187		97,188			233,638			245,213
Prior periods	28,997		28,054			141,078			125,605
Total claims and claim expense payments	135,184		125,242			374,716			370,818
Net reserves, end of period⁽²⁾	294,785		260,585			294,785			260,585
Plus: reinsurance recoverables	63,262		57,302			63,262			57,302
Ending gross reserves⁽¹⁾	$	358,047	$	317,887		$	358,047		$	317,887

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⁽¹⁾	Unpaid claims and claim expenses as reported in the Consolidated Balance Sheets also include reserves for Life and Retirement of $26,589 thousand and $23,897 thousand as of September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, in addition to Property and Casualty reserves.


⁽²⁾	Reserves net of anticipated reinsurance recoverables.


⁽³⁾	Shows the amounts by which the Company decreased its reserves in each of the periods indicated for claims occurring in previous periods to reflect subsequent information on such claims and changes in their projected final settlement costs.

⁽⁴⁾

Benefits, claims and settlement expenses as reported in the Consolidated Statements of Operations also include amounts for Life and Retirement of $21,811 thousand and $65,958 thousand for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2018, respectively, in addition to Property and Casualty amounts. Benefits, claims and settlement expenses for Life and Retirement were $20,002 thousand and $60,025 thousand for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2017, respectively.

Net favorable development of total reserves for Property and Casualty claims occurring in prior years was $300 thousand and $2,100 thousand for the nine month periods ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The favorable development for both of the nine month periods ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 was predominantly the result of favorable severity trends in homeowners loss emergence for accident years 2016 and prior.