American Financial Group (AFG) Risk Analysis

AFG is subject to comprehensive regulation by government agencies in the states and countries where its insurance company subsidiaries are domiciled and where these subsidiaries issue policies and handle claims. Most insurance regulations are designed to protect the interests of AFG's policyholders and third-party claimants as opposed to its investors. While the federal government's role in regulating insurance companies is currently limited, the Dodd-Frank Act established a Federal Insurance Office within the U.S. Department of Treasury to collect data on the insurance industry, recommend changes to the state system of insurance regulation and preempt certain state insurance laws. The potential impact on AFG remains unclear, but the implementation of any federal insurance regulations that constrain AFG's business opportunities or reduce investment flexibility could change the competitive landscape of the financial services sector or the insurance industry, make it more expensive for AFG to conduct its business and otherwise have a material adverse effect on AFG's financial condition and results of operations. The Company may be subject to increasing regulation imposing mandatory disclosure of sustainability and climate-related data. For example, in October 2023, California adopted climate-related bills that require companies doing business in California that meet certain revenue thresholds to publicly disclose certain greenhouse gas emissions data and climate-related financial risk reports. Compliance with such requirements will require significant effort and resources. AFG is subject to complex and changing laws, regulation and public policy debates relating to climate change which are difficult to predict and quantify and may have an adverse impact on its business. Changes in regulations relating to climate change may result in an increase in the cost of doing business or a decrease in premiums in certain lines of business. As a participant in the federal crop insurance program, AFG could also be impacted by regulatory and legislative changes affecting that program. For example, the reinsurance levels that the federal government provides to authorized carriers could be reduced by future legislation. AFG will continue to monitor new and changing federal regulations and the potential impact, if any, on its insurance company subsidiaries. Both state and federal regulators in the U.S., as well as regulators in foreign jurisdictions, including the EU (whether under its regulatory framework proposed in April 2021 or otherwise), have enacted and will continue to evaluate and assess potential laws and regulations to limit and restrict companies' use of AI, and enact new and expanding bases of liability for businesses utilizing AI. Such laws and regulations may limit or prevent AFG's development and use of AI applications, or may eliminate or restrict the confidentiality of our proprietary technology, which could adversely affect AFG's business, operations and financial results, including by reducing the utility of AFG's products, increasing AFG's costs and exposing AFG to litigation or other liabilities. Existing insurance-related laws and regulations may become more restrictive in the future or new restrictive laws may be enacted; it is not possible to predict the potential effects of these laws and regulations. The costs of compliance or the failure to comply with existing or future regulations could impose significant burdens on AFG.

Changes in domestic or foreign tax laws or interpretations of such laws could increase AFG's corporate taxes and reduce earnings. For example, on August 16, 2022, the U.S. government enacted the Inflation Reduction Act ("IRA") which, among other changes, created a new corporate alternative minimum tax ("CAMT") based on adjusted financial statement income and imposed a 1% excise tax on corporate stock repurchases. Many of the key individual tax provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are set to expire on December 31, 2025. Legislation to extend or modify the provisions is expected to be addressed by the U.S. Congress in 2025 and such legislation could include provisions that impact the taxation of corporations on their domestic and foreign income. Any changes in federal income tax laws could adversely affect the federal income taxation of AFG's ongoing operations and have a material adverse impact on its financial condition and results of operations.

AFG and its business partners collect and store sensitive data in the ordinary course of AFG's and their business, including personal identification information of our and their employees and customers, vendors, investors and other third parties and may include health information. Laws and regulations in this area are evolving at an international, national and state level and are generally becoming more rigorous, including through the adoption of more stringent subject matter-specific laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020), the New York Department of Financial Services' Cybersecurity Regulation and Ohio's insurance data security law, which regulate the collection and use of data and security and data breach obligations. The use of AI by AFG or its business partners may also result in potential breaches of existing or future laws or regulations related to privacy or data security. If any disruption or security breach results in a loss or damage to AFG's data, or inappropriate disclosure of AFG's confidential information or that of others, it could damage AFG's reputation, affect its relationships with customers, clients, business partners and regulators, lead to claims against AFG, result in regulatory action and harm AFG's business. In addition, AFG may be required to incur significant costs to mitigate the damage caused by any security breach or to protect against future damage.

The expertise and experience of AFG's employees is a critical component of the Company's success. The continuation of such success depends, in large part, on AFG's ability to attract and retain key individuals. There can be intense competition for qualified candidates in the activities that AFG conducts and in the markets that it serves, both within the insurance industry and from businesses outside the industry. This is particularly acute in certain specialized positions and areas of expertise, such as underwriting, data and analytics and AI-related and technology fields. Competition for employees may increase AFG's expenses and may result in the company not being able to hire key employees or retain them. If AFG is unable to hire qualified candidates or retain its key personnel, AFG may be unable to execute its business strategies and may suffer material adverse consequences to its business, operations and financial condition.

General economic, financial market and political conditions and conditions in the markets in which AFG operates could have a material adverse effect on its results of operations and financial condition. Limited availability of credit, deteriorations of the domestic or global equity, debt, mortgage and real estate markets; declines in consumer confidence and consumer spending; increases in prices or in the rate of inflation; periods of high unemployment; persistently low or rapidly increasing interest rates; disruptive actions or policies by the U.S. or foreign governments; disruptive geopolitical events and other events outside of AFG's control, such as a major epidemic or another pandemic, could contribute to increased volatility and diminished expectations for the economy and the financial markets, including the value of AFG's investment portfolio and the market for its stock.

AFG's international operations expose AFG to additional risks including restrictions such as price controls, capital controls, currency exchange limits, ownership limits and other restrictive or anti-competitive governmental actions or requirements, which could have an adverse effect on AFG's business and reputation. AFG's business activities outside the United States may also be subject to political and economic risks, including foreign currency and credit risk. AFG's business activities outside the United States subject AFG to additional domestic and foreign laws and regulations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act and similar laws in other countries that prohibit the making of improper payments to foreign officials. Although AFG has policies and controls in place that are designed to ensure compliance with these laws, if those controls are ineffective and an employee or intermediary fails to comply with applicable laws and regulations, AFG could suffer civil and criminal penalties and AFG's business and reputation could be adversely affected. Some countries have laws and regulations that lack clarity and, even with local expertise and effective controls, it can be difficult to determine the exact requirements of, and potential liability for non-compliance under, the local laws. Failure to comply with local laws in a particular market may result in substantial liability and could have a significant and negative effect not only on AFG's business in that market but also on AFG's reputation generally.

The property and casualty insurance segment operates in a highly competitive industry that is affected by many factors that can cause significant fluctuations in its results of operations. The lines of business in this segment compete with other individual insurers, state funds and insurance groups of varying sizes, some of which are mutual insurance companies possessing competitive advantages in that all their profits inure to their policyholders. The property and casualty insurance segment also competes with self-insurance plans, captive programs and risk retention groups. In addition, certain foreign insurers may be taxed at lower rates, which may result in a competitive advantage over AFG. In recent years, various types of investors have increasingly sought to participate in the property and casualty insurance industry. Well-capitalized new entrants to the property and casualty insurance industry, or existing competitors that receive substantial infusions of capital or access to third-party capital, provide increasing competition, which may adversely impact AFG's business and profitability. Further, technology companies or other third parties have created, and may in the future create, technology-enabled business models, processes, platforms or alternate distribution channels that may adversely impact AFG's competitive position in some parts of its business. AFG may utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning ("AI") in its business or incorporate AI into its products and services. The AI used by AFG may not operate properly or as expected, which could cause AFG to write policies it may not have otherwise written, misprice policies, assume greater risks, or overpay customer claims, among other potential negative impacts on its business and operations. AFG's existing competitors, new entrants, technology companies or other third parties may leverage AI to the benefit of their business or operations or may incorporate AI into their products and services more quickly or successfully than AFG, which could make AFG less competitive and negatively impact its results of operations. In addition, if the content, analyses, output or recommendations produced by or with the assistance of AI are unintentionally, or are alleged to be, deficient, inaccurate or misleading, AFG's business, financial condition and results of operation may be adversely impacted. Competition is based on many factors, including service to policyholders and agents, product design, reputation for claims handling, price, commissions, ratings and financial strength. The property and casualty market has experienced periods characterized by increased competition, resulting in less restrictive underwriting standards and relatively low premium rates, followed by periods of relatively lower levels of competition, more selective underwriting standards and relatively high premium rates. During periods in which price competition is high or industry underwriting standards have loosened or degraded, AFG may lose business to competitors offering competitive insurance products at lower prices or more favorable terms. Some of AFG's competitors have more capital and greater resources than AFG and may offer a broader range of products, lower prices or better terms than AFG offers. If competition limits AFG's ability to write new or renewal business at adequate rates, its results of operations will be adversely affected.

The results of operations of companies in the property and casualty insurance industry historically have been subject to fluctuations and uncertainties from many factors, including competitive pressures, rising loss costs and changes in the level of reinsurance pricing and capacity, among others. Such factors often cause cyclical changes in the insurance industry with effects that are not uniform among product lines. The demand for property and casualty insurance, both admitted and excess and surplus lines, can vary significantly, rising as the overall level of economic activity increases and falling as that activity decreases, causing AFG's revenues to fluctuate. As a result, AFG's premium levels, renewal rates, expense ratio and other items could be materially adversely impacted. These factors could produce results that would have a negative impact on AFG's results of operations and financial condition.

AFG's reliance on the independent agency market makes it vulnerable to a reduction in the amount of business written by agents. Many of AFG's competitors also rely significantly on the independent agency market. Some of AFG's competitors offer a wider variety of products or higher commissions. AFG also faces credit risk with respect to its independent agents, as they may not pay all the premiums owed to AFG and it may be difficult or impossible to recover such amounts. A reduction in the number of independent agencies marketing AFG's products, the failure of agencies to successfully market AFG's products, changes in the strategy or operations of agencies (including agency consolidation), the inability of AFG to collect amounts owed by agencies or the choice of agencies to reduce their writings of AFG products could adversely affect AFG's revenues and profitability.

AFG uses computer systems and services, which may include or utilize AI applications, to store, retrieve, evaluate and utilize company and customer data and information. Systems failures or outages could compromise AFG's ability to perform business functions in a timely manner, which could harm its ability to conduct business and hurt its relationships with business partners and customers. In the event of a disaster such as a natural catastrophe, an industrial accident, a blackout, a malicious software attack, a terrorist attack or war, AFG's systems may be inaccessible to employees, customers or business partners for an extended period of time. Even if AFG's employees are able to report to work, they may be unable to perform their duties for an extended period of time if AFG's data or systems are disabled or destroyed. Businesses in the United States and in other countries have increasingly become the targets of "cyber-attacks," "ransomware," "phishing," "hacking" or similar illegal or unauthorized intrusions into computer systems and networks. Such events are often highly publicized, can result in significant disruptions to information technology systems and the theft of significant amounts of information as well as funds from online financial accounts, and can cause negative publicity and extensive damage to the reputation of the targeted business, in addition to leading to significant expenses associated with investigation, remediation and customer protection measures. The sophistication of cybersecurity threats, including through the use of AI, continues to increase and proliferate. Like others in the insurance industry, AFG experiences cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to its systems on a regular basis and anticipates continuing to be subject to such attempts. AFG's administrative and technical controls as well as other preventative actions used to reduce the risk of cyber incidents and protect AFG's information may be insufficient to detect or prevent future unauthorized access, other physical and electronic break-ins, cyber-attacks or other security breaches to AFG's computer systems or those of third parties with whom AFG does business. Third parties with which AFG conducts business have also experienced, and may experience in the future, similar illegal or unauthorized intrusions into their computer systems and networks, which could adversely affect AFG's ability to conduct business, its results of operations and reputation, in addition to exposing it to legal liability or regulatory action. AFG has outsourced certain technology and business process functions to third parties over which it has no control and may continue to do so in the future. Outsourcing of certain technology and business process functions to third parties may expose AFG to increased risk related to data security or service disruptions. If AFG does not effectively develop, implement and monitor these relationships, third-party providers do not perform as anticipated, technological or other problems are incurred, or outsourcing relationships relevant to AFG's business process functions are terminated or interrupted, AFG may not realize expected productivity improvements or cost efficiencies and may experience operational difficulties, increased costs and a loss of business. The increased risks identified above could expose AFG to data loss, disruption of service, monetary and reputational damages, competitive disadvantage and significant increases in compliance costs and costs to improve the security and resiliency of AFG's computer systems. The compromise of personal, confidential or proprietary information could also subject AFG to legal liability or regulatory action under evolving cyber-security, data protection and privacy laws and regulations enacted by the U.S. federal and state governments, Canada, the EU or other jurisdictions or by various regulatory organizations or exchanges. As a result, AFG's ability to conduct business and its results of operations might be materially and adversely affected.