speaker
Conference Call Operator
Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the American Financial Group 2023 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Diane Widener, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

speaker
Diane Widener
Vice President, Investor Relations

Good morning and welcome to American Financial Group's second quarter 2023 earnings results conference call. We released our 2023 second quarter results yesterday afternoon. Our press release, investor supplement, and webcast presentation are posted on AFG's website under the investor relations section. These materials will be referenced during portions of today's call. I'm joined this morning by Carl Lindner III and Craig Lindner, co-CEOs of American Financial Group, and Brian Hertzman, AFG CFO. Before I turn the discussion over to Carl, I would like to draw your attention to the notes on slide two of our webcast. Some of the matters to be discussed today are forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and or financial condition to differ materially from these statements. A detailed description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in AFG's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are also available on our website. We may include references to core net operating earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, in our remarks or responses to questions. A reconciliation of net earnings attributable to shareholders to core net operating earnings is included in our earnings release. If you are reading a transcript of this call, please note that it may not be authorized or reviewed for accuracy, and as a result, it may contain factual or transcription errors that could materially alter the intent or meaning of our statements. Now, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Carl Lindner III to discuss our results.

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Good morning. We're pleased to share highlights of AFG's 2023 second quarter, after which Craig, Brian, and I will be happy to respond to your questions. We reported an annualized second quarter core operating return on equity of 18%, which excludes accumulated other comprehensive income, alongside double-digit premium growth, a strong result in the quarter with elevated industry catastrophe activity. The higher interest rate environment contributed to meaningfully higher year-over-year investment income, and we continue to be pleased with the performance of our alternative investment portfolio, where returns exceeded our expectations during the quarter. Our entrepreneurial, opportunistic culture and disciplined operating philosophy continue to serve us well in a favorable property and casualty market and a dynamic economic environment. Craig and I thank God, our talented management team, and our employees for helping us to achieve these results. I'll now turn the discussion over to Craig to walk us through AFG's second quarter results, investment performance, and our overall financial position at June 30th.

speaker
Craig Lindner
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Carl. As I begin my remarks, I'd like to recognize and congratulate John Burding, who was elected president of AFG in late June. John has been a trusted business advisor for over 35 years. His talents have been particularly valuable through his exceptional vision and management of the company's investment portfolio, which has significantly outperformed over time. Please turn to slides three and four for a summary of earnings information for the quarter. AFG reported core net operating earnings of $2.38 per share in the 2023 second quarter. The year-over-year decrease was due primarily to the impact of elevated catastrophe losses and lower favorable prior year reserve development on underwriting profit in our specialty, property, and casualty insurance operations when compared to the record PNC results reported in the second quarter of 2022. These items were partially offset by higher net investment income into 2023 second quarter. Now I'd like to turn to an overview of AFG's investment performance, financial position, and share a few comments about AFG's capital and liquidity. The details surrounding our $14.5 billion investment portfolio are presented on slides five and six. Pre-tax unrealized losses on AFG's fixed maturity portfolio were $587 million at the end of the second quarter compared to pre-tax unrealized losses of $630 million at the end of 2022. In the current interest rate environment, we're able to invest in high-quality, medium-duration, fixed-maturity securities at yields of approximately 5.5%, which compares favorably to the 4.62% yield earned on fixed maturities in our PNC portfolio during the second quarter of 2023. We expect the yield earned on our PNC fixed maturity portfolio to increase by about 10 to 20 basis points by the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the 4.62 percent earned in the second quarter of 2023. This yield compares very favorably to the 3.63 percent earned for the full year in 2022. Looking at results for the quarter, property and casualty net investment income was 22% higher than the comparable 2022 period. These results included an annualized return on alternative investments in the second quarter of 2023 of 9.6% compared to a 12.4% return for the 2022 second quarter. The return on alternative investments in the second quarter of 2023 was the result of solid performance in both the multifamily housing and the private equity portfolios. The average annual yield on AFG's alternative investments over the past five years into December 31, 2022, was approximately 14%. Our guidance for 2023 reflects a return of approximately 9% on our $2.3 billion portfolio of alternative investments. Excluding the impact of alternative investments, net investment income and our PNC insurance operations for the three months ended June 30, 2023 increased 45% year-over-year as a result of the impact of rising interest rates and higher balances of invested assets. Please turn to slide seven, where you'll find a summary of AFG's financial position at June 30, 2023. Our excess capital was approximately $700 million at June 30, 2023, which is net of the $235 million in cash deployed to fund the CRS acquisition, which closed on July 3rd and includes parent company cash and investments of approximately $550 million. Our acquisition of CRS provided an attractive opportunity to deploy our excess capital to expand our specialty niche businesses. During the quarter, we returned $97 million to our shareholders through the payment of our regular 63 cent per share quarterly dividend and $43 million in share repurchases. Importantly, AFG has paid $42 per share in special dividends since the end of 2020, representing $3.6 billion returned to shareholders over this period. Carl and I consider these special dividends an important component of total shareholder return. We expect our operations to continue to generate significant excess capital throughout the remainder of 2023, to the point that we could deploy more than $500 million of excess capital for share repurchases or additional special dividends through the end of 2023, which is in addition to the capital returned to shareholders in the first half of 2023. As you may recall, the portion of our excess capital that we view as available for special dividends and share repurchases is limited by our internal debt-to-cap target of 30%, and that capital number is impacted by unrealized gains and losses on fixed maturities. However, it's important to note that each dollar of debt repurchased frees up approximately $2 of excess capital for distribution to shareholders. For the three months ended June 30, 2023, AFG's growth in book value per share plus dividends was 3.1%, and year-to-date growth in book value per share plus dividends was 10%. Excluding unrealized losses related to fixed maturities, we achieved growth in adjusted book value per share plus dividends of 4.2% during the second quarter and 8.3% year-to-date. I'll now turn the call back over to Carl to discuss the results of our PNC operations and our expectations for 2023.

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Before turning to our specialty property and casualty results, I'd like to officially welcome Brian Young and the Crop Risk Services Team to AFG and the Great American Insurance Group family. This team's expertise and contributions will strengthen our ability to serve the unique needs of our crop policyholders. CRS is clearly a strategic fit, within our crop division and solidifies Great American as the fifth largest provider of mold apparel crop insurance in the United States and the largest U.S.-owned participant in the United States mold apparel crop insurance program and serves as an example of our nimbleness and efficiency in executing a transaction of this nature. Now, if you'd please turn to slides eight and nine of the webcast, which include an overview of our second quarter results. As you'll see on slide eight, Gross and net written premiums were up 12% and 10%, respectively, in the 2023 second quarter compared to the prior year quarter. Year-over-year premium growth was reported within each of the specialty property and casualty groups as a result of a combination of new business opportunities, increased exposures, and a good renewal rate environment. Second quarter 2023 combined ratio was 91.9%. 6.1 points higher than the exceptionally strong underwriting results reported in the prior year period. Catastrophe losses added 3.5 points to the 2023 second quarter combined ratio, an increase of two points from the prior year period. Favorable prior year reserve development in the second quarter of 2023 was four points, a decrease of about 2.2 points from the favorable impact of 6.2 points reported in the prior year quarter. Our catastrophe loss experience was consistent with overall industry experience, with losses arising from an increased frequency of storms during the quarter. Average renewal pricing across our property and casualty group excluding workers' comp was up approximately 5% for the quarter and up approximately 4% overall, consistent with pricing increases achieved in the first quarter. This is our 28th consecutive quarter, to report overall renewal rate increases, and we continue to meet or exceed targeted returns in nearly all of our specialty property and casualty businesses in the second quarter of 2023. Now I'd like to turn to slide nine to review a few highlights from each of our specialty property and casualty business groups. The property and transportation group reported an underwriting profit of $32 million, in the second quarter of 2023 compared to $39 million in the second quarter of 2022. Higher year-over-year profitability in our property and inland marine and ocean marine businesses was more than offset by lower favorable prior year development in our transportation businesses. Catastrophe losses in this group were a manageable $15 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to $19 million in the comparable 2022 period. Second quarter 2023 gross and net written premiums in this group were 10 percent and 6 percent higher, respectively, than the comparable prior year period. Factors contributing to the year-over-year growth included the impact of increased rates and exposures in our transportation businesses and earlier planting of corn and soybeans in our crop insurance business. Nearly all the businesses in this group reported growth in gross and net written premium during the quarter. We continue to stay focused on rate adequacy, particularly in our property business, as we consider higher reinsurance costs and higher property catastrophe loss attachment points. Overall renewal rates in this group increased 6% on average in the second quarter, consistent with pricing achieved in this group for the first quarter of 2023. So we're well into the growing season in our crop insurance operations. Corn and soybean crop development is ahead of last year, with crop conditions slightly worse than last year at this time, but still tracking close to trendline yields overall. Commodity pricing is in acceptable ranges, with corn and soybeans down around 15% and 4%, respectively. when compared to spring discovery pricing. Our integration of the crop risk services business is going well. As a reminder, the majority of the CRS crop business written for the 2023 county year was recorded on AIG's books. The small amount of premiums generated for AFG in the second half of 2023 are included in our premium guidance. With what we know at this time, our guidance continues to reflect the expectation of an average crop year. though adequate moisture over the next six weeks will be very important. Specialty Casualty Group reported an underwriting profit of $95 million in the 2023 second quarter compared to $130 million in the comparable 2022 period. Lower levels of favorable prior year reserve development in our workers' compensation businesses and adverse development in our public entity business were partially offset by higher levels of favorable prior year reserve development in our executive liability business. Underwriting profitability in our workers' comp businesses overall continues to be excellent. The businesses in the specialty casualty group achieved a very strong 86.6 calendar year combined ratio overall in the second quarter, an increase of 6.5 points over the exceptionally strong 80.1% achieved in the comparable prior year period. Second quarter 2023 gross and net written premiums both increased 7% when compared to the same prior year period. Three-fourths of the businesses in this group reported year-over-year growth. The primary factors contributing to the higher premiums included increased exposures and higher renewal rates in our excess and surplus lines business, new business opportunities, strong policy retention, and rate increases in several of our targeted market businesses, and payroll growth. in our workers' comp businesses. This growth was partially offset by lower year-over-year premiums in our executive liability business as we maintain underwriting discipline in a challenging competitive environment, particularly in public D&L. Renewal pricing for this group, excluding our workers' comp businesses, was up about 6 percent in the second quarter and was up 3 percent overall. Specialty Financial Group reported an underwriting profit of $10 million in the second quarter of 2023 compared to an underwriting profit of $37 million in the second quarter of 2022. The decrease was primarily due to higher year-over-year catastrophe losses in our financial institutions business and lower profitability in our surety and fidelity businesses. Catastrophe losses for this group were $19 million in the second quarter of 2023 compared to $3 million in the prior year quarter, contributing to a combined ratio of 95% for the second quarter of 2023, 16.6 points higher than the very strong 78.4% reported in the comparable period in 2022. Second quarter 2023 gross and net rate premiums were up an impressive 40%, and 36%, respectively, when compared to the prior year period. All the businesses in this group reported growth during the quarter. We acted on opportunities to grow our financial institutions business as a result of general economic factors, including rising foreclosure rates and the addition of new accounts, both of which helped fuel the year-over-year growth in the quarter. Overall renewal rates in this group were up approximately 2% for the second quarter. And while we believe rates are adequate, we continue to monitor insured values to ensure appropriate premium levels for increased exposures. Now, please turn to slide 10, where you'll see a full-page summary of our 2023 outlook. Overall, we continue to expect an ongoing favorable property and casualty market with opportunities from growth arising from new business opportunities, continued rate increases, and exposure growth. Based on results reported in the first half of the year and expectations for the remainder of the year, we now expect AFG's Core Net Operating Earnings in 2023 to be in the range of $10.15 to $11.15 per share, a decrease of 85 cents per share at the midpoint of our previous range of $11 to $12 per share. Our revised guidance would produce a full year 2023 core return on equity of approximately 20%. This revised guidance reflects our updated full-year expectations for underwriting profit, partially offset by an increase in expected net investment income. Our guidance continues to reflect an average crop year. As Craig noted, we've increased our expected return on alternative investments for the full year, 2023, to approximately 9%. compared to 13.2 percent earned on these investments in 2022. Our underwriting results for the first six months of 2023 included elevated catastrophe losses and lower profitability in the specialty casualty group, primarily due to lower favorable prior year reserve development and workers' compensation and the impact of social inflation on selected businesses. Based on these results and our view that these trends will continue for the second half of the year, we now expect a 2023 combined ratio for the specialty property and casualty group overall to be between 89 and 91%. Revised upward two points at the midpoint from our previous guidance of 87 to 89%. About half of the change in guidance is due directly to the second quarter results. with the other half driven by our view that the same factors impacting second quarter results would continue for the rest of the year. Our guidance for growth in net written premiums is now expected to be in the range of five to eight percent, an increase of two points at the midpoint of our previous range of three to six percent. Growth in this range will establish a record for net written premiums for the year, excluding crop we expect 2023 year-over-year growth in the range of six to nine percent. Now, looking at each subsegment, based on our results through the second quarter, we continue to expect a combined ratio in the range of 90 to 93 percent in our property and transportation group. This guidance continues to assume an average crop earnings for the year. We continue to expect net written premiums for this group to be in a range of flat to up 2%. Our premium growth guidance factors in the impact of spring commodity futures pricing and related volatility on crop rates. This will negatively impact premiums and related exposure year over year in our crop business, most notably in the third quarter of 2023 when the majority of our annual premiums are recorded. As a result of these factors, which are offset slightly by additional premium from CRS, we now expect net written premiums in our crop insurance business to be down 4% for the full year 2023. Excluding crop, growth in net written premiums in this group is expected to be in the range of 2 to 3%, slightly lower than our original expectations. Growth for the year will be tempered by the non-renewal of about $50 million in premiums related to underperforming transportation accounts and growth in our alternative risk transfer business, which has higher premium sessions. Now, we now expect our specialty casualty group to produce a combined ratio in the range of 85 to 88 percent, an increase of two and a half points at the midpoint of our previous guidance, reflecting lower levels of favorable prior year development, primarily related to workers' compensation in the first half of the year. and more conservative loss picks with regard to our social inflation exposed businesses. Our guidance continues to assume strong profitability in our workers' compensation businesses overall, but at a higher calendar year combined ratio when compared to the exceptional results reported in the prior year. We continue to expect net written premiums to be 5 to 9 percent higher than 2022 results. Excluding workers' comp, we now expect premiums in this group to grow in the range of 5 to 9 percent, a decrease of two points at the midpoint of our previous guidance, reflecting a continued challenging competitive environment in our executive liability business. We now estimate the specialty financials group combined ratio to be in the range of 89 to 93 percent, up four points from our previous range of 85 to 89 percent, reflecting elevated catastrophe losses in the second quarter, and the expectation of higher catastrophe losses in the second half of 2023 as a result of the strong growth in our financial institutions business through the first half of the year. Growth in net written premiums for this group is expected to be in the range of 23% to 27%, up significantly from our previous range of 6% to 10% as a result of the opportunistic growth in our financial institution's business. Based on results through the first six months of the year, we continue to expect renewal rates overall to increase between 3 and 5 percent in our specialty property casualty operations overall. Excluding workers' compensation, we continue to expect renewal rate increases to be in the range of 4 to 6 percent. Craig and I are proud of our proven long long-term track record of value creation. And we believe that our entrepreneurial, opportunistic culture, combined with our strong balance sheet and financial flexibility, position us well for the remainder of 2023. We now open the lines for the Q&A portion of today's call, and we'd be happy to respond to your questions.

speaker
Conference Call Operator
Operator

Thank you. We will now conduct the Q&A question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again.

speaker
Q&A Moderator
Moderator

Please stand by while we compile the question and answer roster. Our first question is from Paul Newsome with Piper Sandler.

speaker
Conference Call Operator
Operator

Your line is open.

speaker
Paul Newsome
Analyst, Piper Sandler

Good morning. I was hoping for a little bit more details on the specialty financial slash financial institutions group growth and maybe why. Well, first of all, I think that's forced placement insurance, right? That's what everyone else calls it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Lender-priced property.

speaker
Paul Newsome
Analyst, Piper Sandler

Yeah. So why is that an opportunity in today's market. Home insurance in general is pretty tough business right now. What makes that so attractive today?

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Historically, our business has had great returns over a long period of time. I think what's changed is rising foreclosure rates. As you said, some of the opportunity to, to, you know, because of market disruption to write new accounts. So it's been a great business. It's been a great business, high returning, high return on equity business, you know, for us for forever. Um, I'm sure, I mean, just had a lot of, you know, it was heavy, had a heavy cat quarter in six, the six months, you know, the catastrophes were 17 to 18 million in higher than last year, you know, for instance.

speaker
Paul Newsome
Analyst, Piper Sandler

Do you have any thoughts on, you know, keeping up with claim cost inflation in that business given, you know, the property in general has been a tough place to be to keep up with the underlying inflation issues? You know, are you doing things in there that might kind of offset those issues?

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Oh, for sure. You know, pricing is just one component. I I think on that business, like, you know, we're focused on getting, you know, proper insured values. You know, as inflation's taken, you know, values up, that's definitely, you know, part of our strategy.

speaker
Paul Newsome
Analyst, Piper Sandler

Great. Maybe turning to the workers' comp business, obviously historically a really good business. Can you talk about sort of what maybe happened from a trend change there that might have, reduce the favorable reserve development? Are we just not getting as much, you know, frequency improvement as we've had in the last many years?

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I mean, the reality is, you know, with rates, I mean, to start with, our overall calendar year underwriting results through six months and last year are outstanding. And we expect 2023 to continue to be. It's just not going to, we're not going to have combined ratios at the same exceptional levels as in the past. On an accident year basis, we're still projecting a good overall accident year underwriting profit. We had that last year. We're still projecting a, a healthy accident year underwriting profit through six months and for 2023. Again, just not the underwriting margins just won't be at the same outstanding levels as what they've been in the past when even though our loss costs, you know, continue to be, you know, pretty benign and loss ratio trends are in check with rates, you know, declining over time, you know, for us and the industry, there's just not going to be the same levels of underwriting margin there.

speaker
Paul Newsome
Analyst, Piper Sandler

I'm just wondering if there was a – obviously, the guidance changed, so there must have been sort of some trend change, I guess, that was different than what you thought at the beginning of the year. That's what I was asking about.

speaker
Brian Hertzman
Chief Financial Officer

Hi, Paul. This is Brian. So in recent years, we've just continued to see claims being settled at lower than our initial expectation and having lots of favorable development coming out of workers' comp. This year, in the first half of this year, as we've reacted to claim settlements, we're seeing things still come in better than our initial expectations, just not as much better as before. So it's still a very good result. It's just not is not developing as favorably as it had in some of the more recent years. So still really good results, just when we see that in the first half of the year, knowing that we take a prudent approach to things, we are reacting to that, settling closer to our established reserves, and not releasing as much.

speaker
Paul Newsome
Analyst, Piper Sandler

Let's move to folks who have questions. Appreciate the help.

speaker
Q&A Moderator
Moderator

Thank you very much.

speaker
Conference Call Operator
Operator

Our next question comes from Michael Zurumski with BMO. Your line is open.

speaker
Michael Zurumski
Analyst, BMO

Hey, great. Good afternoon. Just as a, firstly, as a follow-up to Paul's question and Brian's, your answer. So is it, on the work comp, is it just a small change in medical trend line, not on the indemnity side? Is that just to kind of put a period in that conversation?

speaker
Brian Hertzman
Chief Financial Officer

This is Brian. On the medical cost side, we are watching for that. We haven't experienced a big uptick in expense, but we are mindful of that and we are considering that as we look at setting our current accident year and looking at reserve releases. So while we haven't experienced a big uptick in medical costs, we know that that may be coming.

speaker
Michael Zurumski
Analyst, BMO

Okay, got it. And maybe just keeping on just lost cost inflation levels, and appreciate you guys have already given us a lot of good detail in the prepared remarks and the earnings release, but maybe we can kind of further unpack the social inflation aspect that you've brought up? Is it touching more so commercial auto or it sounds like a number of lines were cited and is it just kind of a small inching up versus expectations or is it, I don't know if there's certain vintages you'd like to call out or just maybe we can unpack that conversation a bit more.

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Sure. You know, commercial auto, the social inflation impacts nothing new. You know, we've been raising rates, particularly in the commercial auto liability side of commercial auto, for 10 years or so. So clearly, social inflation continues to impact commercial auto. We haven't really changed the guidance, you know, for our property and transportation. We're happy we're pleased with the underwriting performance of our overall commercial auto through six months and in 2022 and with continued price increases that we're that we're getting um you know we're trying to stay that way um that said commercial auto liability you know is a focus where probably where a lot of the social inflation you know hits is not where we want it to be uh you know we're probably still at 101 102 accident year combined ratio, you know, as we look at this year. So, I mean, we're continuing to take strong rate. Commercial auto year to date, I think we've taken another 10% in rate, just to give you a perspective, because of the ongoing social inflation, you know, in that. So, And commercial auto, I don't think there's been any change. We're just continuing to be aggressive in how we take rate there. I think the adjustment in our guidance really kind of came in the specialty-casualty, you know, part of our business. And in the quarter we talked about public sector and, you know, We saw from in the 2015 to, Brian, I think 2019? Yeah, 2015 to 2019.

speaker
Brian Hertzman
Chief Financial Officer

So that public sector business, we started to see the impact of social inflation there about five years ago through higher valued awards, higher jury verdicts, and other large settlements. That business is coming out of casualty coverages in excess of self-insured retentions for municipalities and school districts, other entities that serve the public. So we took great action beginning a number of years ago, so we're really seeing the issues are in those 2015 to 2019 action years, as Carl mentioned.

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, and some of the actions that we're taking is that we've cut capacity, we've tightened aggregates, we've been increasing rates, increasing attachment points. A lot of this business is excess of higher retentions or annual aggregate deductibles that are retained by our pool clients. Reinsurance policies soften our risk here, and our layered approach to structuring the business has helped us achieve better pricing, particularly in California. So, I mean, those are some of the things that we're trying to – you know, in our approach in the business to get it to the kind of returns that we're most, that we like.

speaker
Michael Zurumski
Analyst, BMO

That's helpful. Maybe just lastly, you know, on the broader competitive environment and also just being cognizant that, you know, AFGs, ROEs are at, you know, very high levels and, you know, probably peer leading. But just, you know, we've seen pricing power for certain companies insurers and some of the indices too, the broader indices kind of accelerate a bit quarter over quarter. Whereas I believe the total companies for AFG's pricing has been a little bit more flattish, you know, despite some of the inflationary trends, you know, you've been educating us about. So, you know, is it any competitive environment? Is it other, you know, is it certain areas that are just still kind of maybe a bit hyper-competitive, or maybe you're just not looking to – you don't need to take as much rate in certain areas, like, you know, kind of where profitability is still excellent?

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, you know, the only area that, you know, we see has gotten a lot more competitive is, you know, the whole public D&O arena. That's where we see, you know, rates where there's been, you know – a big change in rates, with rates going down 15 to 20%. That said, on the rest of our D&O book, our small accounts, the pricing's been pretty stable in that. In the past, I thought there was more competition on the higher excess liability layers. Through six months, that seems to have tightened up a little bit. You know, we're getting rate and, you know, one of the businesses is growing a little bit. So if anything, I think, you know, I've seen maybe a tightening, you know, in that area. So, you know, we like that.

speaker
Michael Zurumski
Analyst, BMO

So would you, just as a last follow-up, would you say the industry is, trying to push through the higher reinsurance costs to the insured ultimately? And is that taking place, or is that kind of a multi-year process, or maybe it just doesn't need to happen because of higher interest rates?

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Are you talking about the increase in the property reinsurance?

speaker
Michael Zurumski
Analyst, BMO

Yeah.

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Catastrophe reinsurance? Sure.

speaker
Michael Zurumski
Analyst, BMO

Yeah.

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

No, I think definitely when you look at overall industry pricing, particularly on large national account property accounts and coastal exposed, there's large rate increases being taken and terms and conditions changes and more business moving into the ENS side. Our You know, we're seeing opportunities on the property side also, but we have less of an appetite for coastal property and earthquake-exposed property, you know, than our peers. So, you know, we're not making the same bets as, you know, what others are, you know, in the coastal areas or the highly exposed convective areas in them.

speaker
Craig Lindner
Co-Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

speaker
Conference Call Operator
Operator

Thank you very much for your question. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone. Our next question comes from Meyer Shields from Keith, Briette, and Woods. Your line is open.

speaker
Meyer Shields
Analyst, Keith, Briette, and Woods

Great. Thanks so much. Two, I think, fairly quick questions. First, you mentioned that some losses within surety and fidelity in the quarter. And I'm wondering whether you're viewing that as sort of a trend in line with economic weakness or just these lines inherent randomness.

speaker
Q&A Moderator
Moderator

I don't think we're seeing it as a trend.

speaker
Brian Hertzman
Chief Financial Officer

It's just sort of the nature of the business. There can be bumps in the claims from time to time. Okay, perfect.

speaker
Meyer Shields
Analyst, Keith, Briette, and Woods

And just for understanding, given your expertise in transportation, what would we do to decide to non-renew a block of premium rather than remediate it?

speaker
Carl Lindner III
Co-Chief Executive Officer

I think there are, you know, some programs and some things that you do that you just don't think, you know, can be remediated with price and terms. So...

speaker
Meyer Shields
Analyst, Keith, Briette, and Woods

Okay, no, understood. Thank you.

speaker
Conference Call Operator
Operator

Thank you. I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to now turn the conference back to Diane Widener for closing remarks.

speaker
Diane Widener
Vice President, Investor Relations

Thank you for joining us this morning. And of course, if there's any follow-up items, feel free to reach out to the IR department. We hope you all have a great rest of your day.

speaker
Conference Call Operator
Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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