You may have known that churches are generally considered commercial property, but did you know that companies writing commercial policies for them in Arkansas had a devilish year in 2023?
“Those companies took a beating, particularly Church Mutual and Brotherhood,” said Jimmy Harris, compliance director for the Arkansas Department of Insurance in Little Rock. “Church Mutual had nearly a 200% pure direct loss ratio last year.”
Church Mutual Insurance of Merrill, Wisconsin, had a 197.72% ratio.
The pure direct loss ratio is an insurer’s percentage of losses incurred in a specific period compared with its earned premiums during the same time.
Brotherhood Mutual Insurance of Fort Wayne, Indiana, had a 141.5% pure direct loss ratio last year. Both specialize in insuring churches, ministries and nonprofits.
“There are a lot of churches in Arkansas,” Harris noted.
The series of tornadoes that roared across the state on March 31, 2023, destroyed First United Methodist Church of Wynne and damaged four in central Arkansas. Tornado damage at Little Rock’s Agape Church was more than $2 million, and the toll at Parkway Place Baptist in Little Rock topped $1 million.
Church Mutual had $30.5 million in direct losses in Arkansas in 2023; Brotherhood Mutual had $28.3 million in losses.
Auto Owners Insurance of Lansing, Michigan, had the worst monetary loss on Arkansas commercial property policies last year, $55 million. Those numbers come from the Insurance Department, which has been dealing with a property insurance crisis tied to weather extremes. The second-biggest loser was Nationwide, which didn’t have fate on its side. Its total loss was $41.87 million.
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