Commercial property insurer FM Global is crediting members a record $US800 million ($1.2 billion) after an outstanding year in which successful risk mitigation efforts led to fewer losses.

FM Global clients holding policies for fewer than five consecutive years will be eligible for a 5% credit, 5-20 years a 10% credit, and over 20 consecutive years a 15% credit.

The mutual insurer has now returned more than $US5 billion ($7.51 billion) in credits since 2001.

VP Client Service Manager Australia Greg Duncan tells insuranceNEWS.com.au FM Global will give around $30 million back to Australian clients in the form of a membership credit, and that the operation in Australia has more than $350 million in premium.

“We've become a substantial player in the local property insurance market. We've experienced some strong growth over the past five years or so which really has just been a result of the quality of the product that we're providing,” Mr Duncan said.

“Next time they renew their policy with us, they will get an automatic discount on the cost of that renewal policy, returning some of our profits to our mutual policyholders.”  

FM Global offers risk consultancy, sending engineers to client locations to gauge exposures and recommend how clients can improve. Mr Duncan says the cost of a few additional screws in the roof “might save you a disruption to your business that takes six months to fix or costs many millions of dollars to repair”.

“Clients are not just getting an insurance product if something goes wrong. With that understanding, they can then invest in minimising the chance of something going wrong in the first place,” he said. “It works, that's something we're really proud of.”