Commercial Property Insurer FM Global Reports 2012 Financial Results

JOHNSTON, R.I., March 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- FM Global, one of the world's largest business property insurers, announced today that it ended 2012 with US$5.5 billion of consolidated gross premium in force, an increase of 8.6 percent. Additionally, policyholder surplus grew 14.9 percent to US$7.9 billion.

Net income was US$774 million and the mutual insurance company posted a profitable combined ratio of 85.7 percent, despite the impact of Superstorm Sandy—the insurer's single largest net aggregate natural disaster loss to date, which resulted in approximately 2,200 claims.

"FM Global's financial capacity enabled us to absorb the losses we incurred from one of the costliest natural disasters in our company's 178-year history with manageable impact to our bottom line," said Shivan S. Subramaniam, chairman and chief executive officer. "Likewise, our engineering expertise and superior claims-handling helped minimize those losses further. Such outstanding results reinforce the strength of our mutual business model, our balance sheet and our unique focus and effectiveness to ensure our clients' business resilience."

Among the company's other 2012 highlights:

• FM Global's client retention rate held firm at 94 percent—significantly higher than industry averages.
• Premium from new business grew by 6.5 percent, making 2012 a standout year.
• The company created an Asia/Pacific division based in Singapore to support the growth of its mutual policyholders in locations in the Asia/Pacific region.
• The readers of Business Insurance magazine named FM Global the top commercial property insurer for service, expertise and overall performance.
• For the second consecutive year, Greenwich Associates ranked FM Global number one for underwriting expertise, customer service and claims processing responsiveness.
• Global Finance magazine named FM Global the "world's best supply chain risk insurance provider."
• Ratings companies A.M. Best and Fitch reaffirmed FM Global's financial strength at A+ and AA, respectively, which remain unchanged since 2007.

"As a provider of knowledge-based services in a commodity marketplace, our focus remains singular: providing solutions for our policyholders to remain resilient in business," Subramaniam said.  "We will accomplish that goal by continuing to develop and deliver efficient and effective risk improvement solutions to our policyholders across the world, while providing stable risk-transfer solutions that are compliant with local regulatory requirements."

About FM Global
For nearly two centuries, many of the world's largest organizations have turned to FM Global to develop cost-effective property insurance and engineering solutions to protect their business operations from fire, natural disasters and other types of property risk. With clients in more than 130 countries, FM Global ranks 572 among FORTUNE magazine's largest companies in America.

SOURCE FM Global