AMERICAN FINANCIAL GROUP INC

As more fully explained in the following paragraphs, management believes that the areas posing the greatest risk of material loss are the adequacy of its insurance reserves and contingencies arising out of its former railroad and manufacturing operations.

Property and Casualty Insurance Reserves Estimating the liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) is inherently judgmental and is influenced by factors that are subject to significant variation. Determining the liability is a complex process incorporating input from many areas of the Company including actuarial, underwriting, pricing, claims and operations management.

The estimates of liabilities for unpaid claims and for expenses of investigation and adjustment of unpaid claims are based upon: (i) the accumulation of case estimates for losses reported prior to the close of the accounting periods on direct business written (“case reserves”); (ii) estimates received from ceding reinsurers and insurance pools and associations; (iii) estimates of claims incurred but not reported (including possible development on known claims); (iv) estimates (based on experience) of expense for investigating and adjusting claims; and (v) the current state of law and coverage litigation.

The process used to determine the total reserve for liabilities involves estimating the ultimate incurred losses and LAE, adjusted for amounts already paid on the claims. The IBNR reserve is derived by estimating the ultimate unpaid reserve liability and subtracting case reserves for loss and LAE. See Note N — “Insurance — Insurance Reserves” to the financial statements for a discussion of the factors considered and actuarial methods used in determining management’s best estimate of the ultimate liability for unpaid losses and LAE.

The following table shows (in millions) the breakdown of AFG’s property and casualty insurance reserves between case reserves, IBNR reserves and LAE reserves (estimated amounts required to adjust, record and settle claims, other than the claim payments themselves) at December 31, 2024 and gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2024.

While current factors and reasonably likely changes in variable factors are considered in estimating the liability for unpaid losses and LAE, there is no method or system that can eliminate the risk of actual ultimate results differing from such estimates.

Following is a discussion of certain critical variables affecting the estimation of loss reserves of the more significant long-tail lines of business (asbestos and environmental liabilities are separately discussed below). Many other variables may also impact ultimate claim costs.

An important assumption underlying reserve estimates is that the cost trends implicitly built into development patterns will continue into the future. However, future results could vary due to an unexpected change in the underlying cost trends. This unexpected change could arise from a variety of sources including a general increase in economic inflation, social inflation, new medical technologies, or other factors such as those listed below in connection with AFG’s largest lines of business. It is not possible to isolate and measure the potential impact of just one of these variables, and future cost trends could be partially impacted by several such variables. However, it is reasonable to address the sensitivity of the reserves to potential impact from changes in these variables by measuring the effect of a possible overall 1% change in future cost trends that may be caused by one or more variables. Utilizing the effect of a 1% change in overall cost trends enables changes greater than 1% to be estimated by extrapolation. Each additional 1% change in the cost trend would increase the effect on net earnings by an amount slightly (about 5%) greater than the effect of the previous 1%. For example, if a 1% change in cost trends in a line of business would change net earnings by $20 million, a 2% change would change net earnings by approximately $41 million.

The estimated cumulative adverse impact that a 1% change in cost trends in AFG’s more significant long-tail lines of property and casualty business (exceeding 5% of total reserves) would have on net earnings is shown below (in millions).

The judgments and uncertainties surrounding management’s reserve estimation process and the potential for reasonably possible variability in management’s most recent reserve estimates may also be viewed by looking at how recent historical estimates of reserves have developed. The following table shows (dollars in millions) what the impact on AFG’s net earnings would be on the more significant lines of business if the December 31, 2024, reserves (net of reinsurance) were to develop at the same rate as the average development of the most recent five years.

(a)Adverse (favorable), net of tax effect.

(b)Excludes asbestos and environmental liabilities.

The following discussion describes key assumptions and important variables that affect the estimate of the reserve for loss and LAE of the more significant lines of business and explains what caused them to change from assumptions used in the preceding period.

Other Liability — Occurrence

This long-tail line of business consists of coverages protecting the insured against legal liability resulting from negligence, carelessness, or a failure to act causing property damage or personal injury to others. Some of the important variables affecting estimation of loss reserves for other liability — occurrence include:

•Litigious climate

•Unpredictability of judicial decisions regarding coverage issues

•Outside counsel costs

•Timing of claims reporting

AFG recorded adverse prior year reserve development of $210 million in 2024, $96 million in 2023 and $109 million in 2022 related to its other liability — occurrence coverage due primarily to continued claim severity increases in excess and umbrella liability coverages.

While management applies the actuarial methods discussed in Note N — “Insurance — Insurance Reserves” to the financial statements, more judgment is involved in arriving at the final reserve to be held. For recent accident years, more weight is given to the Bornhuetter-Ferguson method.

Workers’ Compensation

This long-tail line of business provides coverage to employees who may be injured in the course of employment. Some of the important variables affecting estimation of loss reserves for workers’ compensation include:

•Legislative actions and regulatory and legal interpretations

•Future medical cost inflation

•Economic conditions

•Frequency of reopening claims previously closed

•Advances in medical equipment and processes

•Pace and intensity of employee rehabilitation

•Changes in the use of pharmaceutical drugs

•Changes in mortality trends for permanently injured workers

Approximately 23% and 24% of AFG’s workers’ compensation reserves at December 31, 2024 relate to policies written in Florida and California, respectively.

AFG recorded favorable prior year reserve development of $128 million in 2024, $116 million in 2023 and $189 million in 2022, related to its workers’ compensation coverage due to lower than anticipated medical severity.

Other Liability — Claims Made

This long-tail line of business consists mostly of directors’ and officers’ liability (“D&O”). Some of the important variables affecting estimation of loss reserves for other liability — claims made include:

•Litigious climate

•Economic conditions

•Variability of stock prices

The general state of the economy and the variability of the stock price of the insured can affect the frequency and severity of shareholder class action suits and other situations that trigger coverage under D&O policies. For example, from 2008 to 2010, economic conditions led to higher frequency of claims, particularly in the D&O policies for small account and not-for-profit organizations. After peaking in 2010, claim frequency decreased and stabilized to near pre-2008 levels until dropping sharply during the pandemic-related shutdowns. Post-pandemic, frequency has increased slightly but has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

AFG recorded favorable prior year reserve development of $15 million in 2024, $33 million in 2023 and $24 million in 2022 on its D&O business as claim frequency and severity were less than expected across several prior accident years.

Commercial Auto/Truck Liability/Medical

This line of business is a mix of coverage protecting the insured against legal liability for property damage or personal injury to others arising from the operation of commercial motor vehicles. The property damage liability exposure is usually short-tail with relatively prompt reporting and settlement of claims. The bodily injury and medical payments exposures are longer-tailed; although the claim reporting is relatively prompt, the final settlement can take longer to achieve. Some of the important variables affecting estimation of loss reserves for commercial auto/truck liability/medical are similar to other liability — occurrence and include:

•Unpredictability of judicial decisions regarding coverage issues

•Litigious climate and trends

•Change in frequency of severe accidents

•Health care costs and utilization of medical services by injured parties

AFG recorded adverse prior year reserve development of $36 million in 2024, $29 million in 2023 and $32 million in 2022 for this line of business due to higher than anticipated claim severity.

Recoverables from Reinsurers and Availability of Reinsurance AFG is subject to credit risk with respect to its reinsurers, as reinsurance contracts do not relieve AFG of its liability to policyholders. To mitigate this risk, substantially all reinsurance is ceded to companies rated “A” or better by S&P or is secured by “funds withheld” or other collateral.

The availability and cost of reinsurance are subject to prevailing market conditions, which are beyond AFG’s control and which may affect AFG’s level of business and profitability. Although the cost of certain reinsurance programs may increase, management believes that AFG will be able to maintain adequate reinsurance coverage at acceptable rates without a material adverse effect on AFG’s results of operations. AFG’s gross and net combined ratios are shown in the table below.

See Item 1 — Business — “Property and Casualty Insurance Segment — Reinsurance” for more information on AFG’s reinsurance programs. For additional information on the effect of reinsurance on AFG’s historical results of operations see Note N — “Insurance — Reinsurance”to the financial statements.

The following table illustrates the effect that purchasing property and casualty reinsurance has had on AFG’s combined ratio over the last three years.

Asbestos and Environmental-related (“A&E”) Insurance Reserves Asbestos and environmental reserves of the property and casualty group consisted of the following (in millions):

Asbestos reserves include claims asserting alleged injuries and damages from exposure to asbestos. Environmental reserves include claims relating to polluted sites.

Asbestos claims against manufacturers, distributors or installers of asbestos products were presented under the products liability section of their policies, which typically had aggregate limits that capped an insurer’s liability. In addition, asbestos claims are being presented as “non-products” claims, such as those by installers of asbestos products and by property owners or operators who allegedly had asbestos on their property, under the premises or operations section of their policies. Unlike products exposures, these non-products exposures typically had no aggregate limits, creating greater exposure for insurers. Further, in an effort to seek additional insurance coverage, some insureds with installation activities who have substantially eroded their products coverage are presenting new asbestos claims as non-products operations claims or attempting to reclassify previously settled products claims as non-products claims to restore a portion of previously exhausted products aggregate limits.

Approximately 48% of AFG’s net asbestos reserves relate to policies written directly by AFG subsidiaries. Claims from these policies generally are product-oriented claims with only a limited amount of non-products exposures and are dominated by small to mid-sized commercial entities that are mostly regional policyholders with few national target defendants. The remainder is assumed reinsurance business that includes exposures from 1954 to 1983. The asbestos and environmental assumed claims are ceded by various insurance companies under reinsurance treaties. A majority of the individual assumed claims have exposures of less than $100,000 to AFG. Asbestos losses assumed include some of the industry known manufacturers, distributors and installers. Pollution losses include industry known insured names and sites.

Establishing reserves for A&E claims relating to policies and participations in reinsurance treaties and former operations is subject to uncertainties that are significantly greater than those presented by other types of claims. For this group of claims, traditional actuarial techniques that rely on historical loss development trends cannot be used and a range of reasonably possible losses cannot be estimated. Case reserves and expense reserves are established by the claims department as specific policies are identified. In addition to the case reserves established for known claims, management establishes additional reserves for claims not yet known or reported and for possible development on known claims. These additional reserves are management’s best estimate based on periodic comprehensive studies and internal reviews adjusted for payments and identifiable changes, supplemented by management’s review of industry information about such claims, with due consideration to individual claim situations.

Management believes that estimating the ultimate liability for asbestos claims presents a unique and difficult challenge to the insurance industry due to, among other things, difficulty in predicting the number of future claims, inconsistent court decisions, an increase in bankruptcy filings as a result of asbestos-related liabilities, unresolved issues such as whether coverage exists, novel theories of coverage, how claims are to be allocated among triggered policies and implicated years, whether claimants who exhibit no signs of illness will be successful in pursuing their claims and judicial interpretations that often expand theories of recovery and broaden the scope of coverage. Environmental claims likewise present challenges in prediction, due to uncertainty regarding the interpretation of insurance policies, complexities regarding multi-party involvements at sites, evolving cleanup standards and protracted time periods required to assess the level of cleanup required at contaminated sites.

While management believes that AFG’s reserves for A&E claims are a reasonable estimate of ultimate liability for such claims, actual results may vary materially from the amounts currently recorded due to the factors listed above. A 1% variation in loss cost trends, caused by any of the factors previously described, would change net earnings by approximately $28 million.

The following factors could impact AFG’s A&E reserves and payments:

•There is interest at the state level to attempt to legislatively address asbestos liabilities and the manner in which asbestos claims are resolved. These developments are fluid and could result in piecemeal state-by-state solutions.

•The manner by which bankruptcy courts are addressing asbestos liabilities is in flux.

•AFG’s insureds may make claims alleging significant non-products exposures.

AFG tracks its A&E claims by policyholder. The following table shows, by type of claim, the number of policyholders that did not receive any payments in the calendar year separate from policyholders that did receive a payment. Policyholder counts represent policies written by AFG subsidiaries and do not include assumed reinsurance.

Amounts paid (net of reinsurance recoveries) for asbestos and environmental claims, including LAE, were as follows (in millions):

The survival ratio is a measure often used by industry analysts to compare A&E reserves’ strength among companies. This ratio is typically calculated by dividing reserves for A&E exposures by the three-year average of paid losses, and therefore measures the number of years that it would take to pay off current reserves based on recent average payments. Because this ratio can be significantly impacted by a number of factors such as loss payout variability, caution should be exercised in attempting to determine reserve adequacy based simply on the survival ratio. At December 31, 2024, the property and casualty insurance segment’s three-year survival ratios compare favorably with industry survival ratios published by A.M. Best (as of December 31, 2023, and adjusted for several large portfolio transfers) as detailed in the following table:

During the third quarter of 2024, AFG completed an in-depth internal review of its asbestos and environmental exposures relating to the run-off operations of its property and casualty insurance segment. AFG annually conducts a comprehensive review of its asbestos and environmental reserves. In connection with these reviews, AFG engages with outside counsel and, as appropriate, engineering and consulting firms and specialty actuarial firms.

During the 2024 internal review, no new trends were identified and recent claims activity was generally consistent with AFG’s expectations resulting from its in-depth internal reviews in the prior three years, and the most recent external study in 2020. As a result, and consistent with the internal review in the third quarter of 2023, the 2024 review resulted in no net change to AFG’s property and casualty insurance segment’s asbestos and environmental reserves.

Contingencies related to Subsidiaries’ Former Operations The A&E reviews and external study discussed above also encompassed reserves for various environmental and occupational injury and disease claims and other contingencies arising out of the railroad operations disposed of by APU Consolidated’s predecessor and certain manufacturing operations disposed of by APU Consolidated and its subsidiaries and by Great American Financial Resources, Inc. AFG recorded pretax special non-core A&E charges of $14 million in 2024 and $15 million in 2023 to increase liabilities for those operations as a result of the internal reviews. Liabilities for claims and contingencies arising from these former railroad and manufacturing operations totaled $91 million at December 31, 2024. For a discussion of the uncertainties in determining the ultimate liability, see Note M — “Contingencies” to the financial statements.