Commercial and industrial property insurer FM Global continues to make strong inroads into the Australian market. The US-based mutual says it now provides its products and services to one in six companies on the ASX100.

It has reported a net income of $723 million for 2004, down from its net income of $863 million for the previous year. FM Global’s premium retention rate was 95.6% and it achieved a combined ratio of 75.3%, which Chairman and CEO Shivan Subramaniam says significantly exceeded the company’s expectations.

FM Global says the group has seen consistent profitable growth in Australia. It uses a unique business insurance model that involves engineers carrying out thorough risk assessments on policyholders.

The company’s net losses were approximately $1.55 billion in 2004 compared with $1.4 billion in 2003. The loss impact from the four hurricanes in the US during August and September last year was less than $129 million.

Mr Subramaniam says the group’s good results “wouldn’t be possible without clients who work to truly understand their property hazards, are committed to reducing their exposure to risk and believe in FM Global’s philosophy that the majority of loss is preventable”.