OREANDA-NEWS. Capitalization remains solid for the U.S. non-life sector as measured by Prism, Fitch Ratings' proprietary capital model. Risk adjusted capital positions were relatively stable between 2014 and 2013 with the majority of insurers in Fitch's universe receiving Prism scores of 'Strong' or better. A newly published special report: '2014 U.S. Non-Life Prism Scores' provides updated Prism scores for a group of 45 U.S. property/casualty (P/C) groups.

The report also includes an analysis of industry aggregate capital adequacy under Prism, which indicates a 'Very Strong' capital position. This result is up slightly from year-end 2013 result, and is consistent with Fitch Ratings' current view of the P/C sector.

P/C insurers reported moderate 3.5% growth in policyholders' surplus in 2014, however, available capital (AC) growth under Prism benefited from greater unrealized gains on fixed-income investments. On average for individual insurers, AC was 109% of PHS in 2014 versus 101% in 2013.

Investment allocation was the key model input that increased target capital (TC) from year to year in part due to growth in the investment allocation to common and private equities from market appreciation. TC was favorably impacted by lower projected loss ratios reflecting recent underwriting performance improvement, and reduced catastrophe exposure tied to active management of coastal exposure aggregations and increased use of catastrophe reinsurance.

In addition to the published scores on individual groups, the report discusses the positive correlation between Prism scores and financial strength ratings as well as other capital adequacy measures such as operating leverage and NAIC RBC.