The 2018 underwriting results are now available and 2018 was a great year for our Canadian underwriters, especially EDC who went from a 166% loss ratio for 2017 to a -15% loss ratio in 2018.  EDC paid a dividend to the Canadian government of $ 969 million in 2018.  From reading EDC’s annual report, it appears their loss ratio was about 43 % prior to claim recoveries and the reversal of a large loss provision for a claim that did not materialize.  Clearly EDC was very successful with their recovery efforts in 2018.  The year end loss ratios for EDC, AIG, Atradius, Coface and Euler Hermes were -15%, 15%, 12%, 27% and 59% respectively.   Euler had the largest loss ratio of the major insurers. The insurers target loss ratio is in the 50% range.  Despite all the geo-political events, trade policy uncertainty and volatility in the markets in the second half of the year, the insurers faired pretty well.  The five underwriters mentioned collectively captured approximately 90% of the Canadian credit insurance market in premium dollars.   We will continue to monitor the loss ratios and more importantly, their impact on the competitiveness of premium rates quoted for new business and policy renewals in 2019.