Estimated title losses

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Estimated title losses. A summary of estimated title losses for the nine months ended September 30 is as follows:


	2020		2019
	($000 omitted)
Balances at January 1	459,053		461,560
Provisions:
Current year	68,063		54,670
Previous policy years	537		863
Total provisions	68,600		55,533
Payments, net of recoveries:
Current year	(9,595)		(11,424)
Previous policy years	(49,390)		(55,375)
Total payments, net of recoveries	(58,985)		(66,799)

Effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates	(1,856)		2,067
Balances at September 30	466,812		452,361
Loss ratios as a percentage of title operating revenues:
Current year provisions	4.5	%	4.1	%
Total provisions	4.6	%	4.2	%

Provisions in the first nine months of 2020 increased compared to the same period in 2019, primarily as a result of increased title revenues, higher domestic loss provisioning rates due to the current economic environment, and unfavorable loss development related to certain coverages in the Canadian operations. Claim payments in the first nine months of 2020 decreased compared to the same period in 2019, primarily due to lower payments on large and non-large claims relating to prior policy years; while the effect of changes in foreign currency exchange rates for the first nine months of 2020 and 2019 were primarily influenced by the depreciation and appreciation, respectively, of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar during those periods.