Results of Operations - Three Months Ended September 30, 2021 Compared to Three Months Ended September 30, 2020
Our insurance subsidiaries’ net premiums earned for the third quarter of 2021 were $196.2 million, an increase of $11.3 million, or
6.1 %, compared to $184.9 million for the third quarter of 2020, primarily reflecting the inclusion of the business of the Mountain States Insurance Group in the underwriting pool beginning with policies effective in 2021, as well as new business growth and renewal premium increases.
Our insurance subsidiaries’ net premiums written for the three months ended
September 30, 2021 were $197.0 million, an increase of $16.2 million, or
9.0%, from the $180.8 million of net premiums written for the third quarter of 2020. Commercial lines net premiums written increased $17.3 million, or 17.6%, for the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020. We attribute the increase in commercial lines net premiums written primarily to the inclusion of the business of the Mountain States Insurance Group in the underwriting pool beginning with policies effective in 2021, as well as new business growth and renewal premium increases. Personal lines net premiums written decreased $1.1 million, or
1.3%, for the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020. We attribute the decrease in personal lines net premiums written primarily to net attrition as a result of measures our insurance subsidiaries have implemented to improve underwriting profitability, partially offset by the impact of premium rate increases our insurance subsidiaries have implemented. Net premiums written for the third quarter of 2020 reflected premium reductions MICO’s policyholders requested following the July 1, 2020 effective date of
no-fault
reform legislation in the state of Michigan.
Our net investment income was $7.8 million for the third quarter of 2021, compared to $7.4 million for the third quarter of 2020. We attribute the increase primarily to an increase in average invested assets.
Net Investment (Losses) Gains.
Net investment losses for the third quarter of 2021 were $1.6 million, compared to net investment gains of $3.3 million for the third quarter of 2020. The net investment losses and gains for the third quarters of 2021 and 2020, respectively, resulted primarily from the net change in unrealized gains and losses within our equity securities portfolio at September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We did not recognize any impairment losses in our investment portfolio during the third quarter of 2021 or 2020.
Losses and Loss Expenses.
Our insurance subsidiaries’ loss ratio, which is the ratio of incurred losses and loss expenses to premiums earned, was 75.5% for the third quarter of 2021, an increase from our insurance subsidiaries’ loss ratio of 65.4% for the third quarter of 2020. We attribute this increase primarily to increased frequency of personal automobile claims compared to the third quarter of 2020, when lower driving activity resulted from
COVID-19
related shutdowns, higher severity of workers’ compensation losses and elevated fire losses, including $6.0 million from three individual losses that exceeded our
per-risk
reinsurance retention amount, that primarily impacted the loss ratios for our homeowners and commercial multi-peril lines of business. Weather-related losses of $18.0 million, or 9.2 percentage points of the loss ratio, for the third quarter of 2021, decreased from $16.9 million, or 9.1 percentage points of the loss ratio, for the third quarter of 2020. Weather-related loss activity for the third quarter of 2021 was higher than our previous five-year average of $16.4 million for third quarter weather-related losses. On a statutory basis, our insurance subsidiaries’ commercial lines loss ratio was 76.3% for the third quarter of 2021, compared to 68.2% for the third quarter of 2020, primarily due to an increase in the commercial automobile, commercial multi-peril and workers’ compensation loss ratios. The personal lines statutory loss ratio of our insurance subsidiaries increased to 75.0% for the third quarter of 2021, compared to 61.1% for the third quarter of 2020. We attribute this increase primarily to an increase in the personal automobile and homeowners’ loss ratios. Our insurance subsidiaries experienced favorable loss reserve development of approximately $4.3 million during the third quarter of 2021. Our insurance subsidiaries experienced unfavorable loss reserve development of approximately $542,000 during the third quarter of 2020.
The expense ratio for an insurance company is the ratio of policy acquisition costs and other underwriting expenses to premiums earned. The expense ratio of our insurance subsidiaries was 31.5% for the third quarter of 2021, compared to 31.9% for the third quarter of 2020. The decrease in the expense ratio primarily reflected a decrease in our underwriting-based incentive costs for our agents and employees, offset partially by higher technology systems-related expenses during the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020.
The combined ratio represents the sum of the loss ratio, the expense ratio and the dividend ratio, which is the ratio of policyholder dividends incurred to premiums earned. Our insurance subsidiaries’ combined ratios were 107.7% and 98.3% for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We attribute the increase in the combined ratio primarily to an increase in the loss ratio for the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020.
Our interest expense for the third quarter of 2021 was $209,547, compared to $219,039 for the third quarter of 2020. We attribute the decrease to lower average borrowings under our lines of credit during the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020.