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Reinsurance and Retention Limits
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Reinsurance and Retention Limits [Abstract]  
Reinsurance and Retention Limits [Text Block] Reinsurance and Retention Limits
In order to maintain premium production within its capacity and limit maximum losses for which it might become liable under its policies, Old Republic, as is common practice in the insurance industry, may cede a portion or all of its premiums and related liabilities on certain classes of insurance, individual policies, or blocks of business to other insurers and reinsurers. Although the ceding of insurance does not ordinarily discharge an insurer from its direct liability to a policyholder, it is industry practice to establish the reinsured part of risks as the liability of the reinsurer. Old Republic also employs retrospective premium and a large variety of risk-sharing procedures and arrangements for parts of its business in order to reduce underwriting losses for which it might become liable under insurance policies it issues. To the extent that any reinsurance companies, retrospective related risks, or producers might be unable to meet their obligations under existing reinsurance, retrospective insurance and production agreements, Old Republic would be liable for the defaulted amounts. The Company generally protects itself by withholding funds, securing indemnity agreements, obtaining surety bonds, or otherwise collateralizing such obligations through irrevocable letters of credit, cash, or securities.
Except as noted in the following paragraph, reinsurance protection on property and liability coverages generally limits the net loss from any one event to a maximum of: $5.2 for workers' compensation; $7.0 for commercial auto liability; $7.0 for general liability; $12.8 for directors & officers; $2.2 for aviation; and $23.1 for property coverages. Title insurance risk assumptions are generally limited to a maximum of $500.0 as to any one policy. The vast majority of title policies issued, however, carry exposures of less than $1.0. The average direct primary mortgage guaranty exposure is (in whole dollars) $37,000 per insured loan.

The Company maintains treaty and facultative reinsurance coverage for its workers' compensation exposures. Pursuant to regulatory requirements, however, all workers' compensation primary insurers such as the Company remain liable for unlimited amounts in excess of reinsured limits. Other than the substantial concentration of workers' compensation losses caused by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America, to the best of the Company's knowledge there had not been a similar accumulation of claims in a single location from a single occurrence prior to that event. Nevertheless, the possibility continues to exist that non-reinsured losses could, depending on a wide range of severity and frequency assumptions, aggregate several hundred million dollars to an insurer such as the Company. Such aggregation of losses could occur in the event of a catastrophe such as an earthquake that could lead to the death or injury of a large number of persons concentrated in a single facility such as a high-rise building.

As a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America, the reinsurance industry eliminated coverage from substantially all contracts for claims arising from acts of terrorism. Primary insurers like the Company therefore became fully exposed to such claims. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act (TRIREA), and the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2019 (TRIPRA) were subsequently placed into law and serve as a federal reinsurance program administered by the Secretary of the Treasury. This legislation requires primary insurers to offer coverage for certified acts of terrorism under most commercial property and casualty insurance policies (excluding such coverages as commercial auto, burglary and theft, professional liability, and farm owners multi-peril insurance) and also provides for temporary reinsurance protection through December 31, 2027.

Although insurers are permitted to charge an additional premium for terrorism coverage, insureds may reject the coverage. The program's protection is not triggered for losses arising from an act of terrorism until the industry first suffers losses in excess of a prescribed aggregate deductible during any one year. The program deductible trigger was $200.0 for 2023. Once the program trigger is met, the program will be responsible for a fixed percentage of the Company's terrorism losses that exceed its deductible. The Company's deductible amounts to 20% of direct earned premium on eligible property and casualty insurance coverages. The Company currently reinsures limits on a treaty basis of $195.0 in excess of $5.0 for claims arising from certain acts of terrorism for casualty clash and catastrophe workers' compensation liability insurance coverages. The Company also purchases facultative reinsurance on certain accounts in excess of $200.0 to manage the Company's net exposure.

Reinsurance ceded by the Company's insurance subsidiaries in the ordinary course of business is typically placed on an excess of loss basis. Under excess of loss reinsurance agreements, the companies are generally reimbursed for losses exceeding contractually agreed‑upon levels. Quota share reinsurance is most often effected between the Company's insurance subsidiaries and industry-wide assigned risk plans or captive insurers owned by insureds. Under quota share reinsurance, the Company remits to the assuming entity an agreed-upon percentage of premiums written and is reimbursed for underwriting expenses and proportionately related claims costs.

Reinsurance recoverable asset balances represent amounts due from or credited by assuming reinsurers for paid and unpaid loss and premium reserves. Such reinsurance balances are recoverable from nonadmitted foreign and certain other reinsurers, such as captive insurance companies owned by insureds or business producers, as well as similar balances or credits arising from policies that are retrospectively rated or subject to insureds' high deductible retentions that are substantially collateralized by irrevocable letters of credit, securities, and other financial instruments. Old Republic evaluates on a regular basis the financial condition of its assuming reinsurers and insureds who purchase its retrospectively rated or high deductible policies. Estimates of credit losses are included in the Company's net loss and loss adjustment expense reserves since reinsurance, retrospectively rated, and self-insured deductible policies and contracts do not relieve Old Republic from its direct obligations to insureds or their beneficiaries. See Note 10 for further discussion.

At December 31, 2023, the General Insurance segment's ten largest reinsurers represented approximately 59% of the total consolidated reinsurance recoverable on paid and unpaid losses, with Day One Insurance, Inc. the largest reinsurer, representing 13.2% of the total recoverable balance. Of the balances due from these ten reinsurers, 50.8% was recoverable from A or better rated reinsurance companies, 22.4% from domestic unrated companies, and 26.8% from foreign unrated companies.

The following information relates to reinsurance and related data for the General Insurance segment for the three years ended December 31, 2023. Reinsurance transactions of the Title Insurance and RFIG Run-off segments and the small life and accident insurance operation are not material.
Years Ended December 31:202320222021
General Insurance
Written premiums:Direct$6,776.4 $6,263.3 $5,691.3 
Assumed96.6 90.0 74.0 
Ceded$2,516.7 $2,375.1 $2,084.4 
Earned premiums:Direct$6,513.2 $6,021.0 $5,509.1 
Assumed94.7 87.1 73.7 
Ceded$2,488.6 $2,299.5 $2,027.3 
Losses ceded$1,795.9 $1,677.3 $1,255.6