v3.25.4
Transactions with Affiliates
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2025
Transactions with Affiliates [Abstract]  
Transactions with Affiliates
3 - Transactions with Affiliates

Our insurance subsidiaries conduct business and have various agreements with Donegal Mutual that we describe in the following subparagraphs:

a. Reinsurance Pooling and Other Reinsurance Arrangements

Atlantic States, our largest insurance subsidiary, and Donegal Mutual have a pooling agreement under which both companies contribute substantially all of their direct written business to the pool and receive an allocated percentage of the pooled underwriting results, excluding certain reinsurance Donegal Mutual assumes from our insurance subsidiaries. In addition, Donegal Mutual has 100% quota-share reinsurance agreements with Southern Mutual and the Mountain States insurance subsidiaries, and Donegal Mutual places the business of Southern Mutual and the Mountain States insurance subsidiaries into the underwriting pool. Atlantic States has an 80% share of the results of the pool, and Donegal Mutual has a 20% share of the results of the pool. The intent of the pooling agreement is to produce more uniform and stable underwriting results from year to year for each pool participant than they would experience individually and to spread the risk of loss between the participants based on each participant’s relative amount of surplus and relative access to capital. Each participant in the pool has at its disposal the capacity of the entire pool, rather than being limited to policy exposures of a size commensurate with its own capital and surplus.
The following amounts represent reinsurance Atlantic States ceded to the pool during 2025, 2024 and 2023:
 
   
2025
   
2024
   
2023
 
Premiums earned
 
$
358,244,537
   
$
358,062,827
   
$
332,272,662
 
Losses and loss expenses
   
201,642,149
     
201,030,943
     
238,055,099
 
Prepaid reinsurance premiums
   
164,949,115
     
169,621,545
     
161,991,511
 
Liability for losses and loss expenses
   
297,962,299
     
297,955,741
     
299,947,390
 

The following amounts represent reinsurance Atlantic States assumed from the pool during 2025, 2024 and 2023:
 
   
2025
   
2024
   
2023
 
Premiums earned
 
$
617,234,831
   
$
611,864,614
   
$
583,559,746
 
Losses and loss expenses
   
345,976,565
     
354,052,955
     
409,051,306
 
Unearned premiums
   
289,441,497
     
297,493,977
     
286,147,727
 
Liability for losses and loss expenses
   
518,833,183
     
517,975,350
     
507,527,839
 

Donegal Mutual and MICO had a quota-share reinsurance agreement under which Donegal Mutual assumed 25% of the premiums and losses related to the business of MICO for policies effective through December 31, 2021. Donegal Mutual and MICO terminated this reinsurance agreement on a run-off basis effective January 1, 2022. Donegal Mutual and Peninsula had a quota-share reinsurance agreement under which Donegal Mutual assumed 100% of the premiums and losses related to the workers’ compensation product line of Peninsula in certain states for policies effective through December 31, 2021. Donegal Mutual and Peninsula terminated this reinsurance agreement on a run-off basis effective January 1, 2022. Donegal Mutual places its assumed business from MICO and Peninsula into the underwriting pool.

The following amounts represent reinsurance ceded to Donegal Mutual pursuant to these quota-share reinsurance agreements during 2025, 2024 and 2023:
 
   
2025
   
2024
   
2023
 
Premiums earned
 
$
(32,160
)
 
$
19,517
   
$
168,243
 
Losses and loss expenses
   
2,383,014
     
(3,095,130
)
   
2,902,422
 
Liability for losses and loss expenses
   
8,814,047
     
10,450,447
     
17,852,153
 

In 2025, 2024, and 2023, each of our insurance subsidiaries had a catastrophe reinsurance agreement with Donegal Mutual that provided coverage under any one catastrophic occurrence above a set retention of $3,000,000, with a combined retention of $6,000,000 for a catastrophe involving a combination of our insurance subsidiaries, up to the amount Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries retained under catastrophe reinsurance agreements with unaffiliated reinsurers. In 2025, Southern, MICO and The Peninsula Insurance Company also had a liability reinsurance agreement with Donegal Mutual that provided coverage up to $3,000,000 per occurrence over a set retention of $3,000,000.

The following amounts represent reinsurance that our insurance subsidiaries ceded to Donegal Mutual pursuant to these reinsurance agreements during 2025, 2024 and 2023:
 
   
2025
   
2024
   
2023
 
Premiums earned
 
$
14,421,205
   
$
14,261,265
   
$
13,215,814
 
Losses and loss expenses
   
1,656,685
     
19,454,584
     
17,895,306
 
Liability for losses and loss expenses
   
1,474,118
     
6,876,255
     
2,497,244
 
The following amounts represent the effect of affiliated reinsurance transactions on net premiums our insurance subsidiaries earned during 2025, 2024 and 2023:
 
   
2025
   
2024
   
2023
 
Assumed
 
$
617,234,831
   
$
611,864,614
   
$
583,559,746
 
Ceded
   
(372,633,582
)
   
(372,343,609
)
   
(345,656,717
)
Net
 
$
244,601,249
   
$
239,521,005
   
$
237,903,029
 

The following amounts represent the effect of affiliated reinsurance transactions on net losses and loss expenses our insurance subsidiaries incurred during 2025, 2024 and 2023:
 
   
2025
   
2024
   
2023
 
Assumed
 
$
345,976,565
   
$
354,052,955
   
$
409,051,306
 
Ceded
   
(205,681,848
)
   
(217,390,397
)
   
(258,852,827
)
Net
 
$
140,294,717
   
$
136,662,558
   
$
150,198,479
 

b. Expense Sharing

Donegal Mutual provides facilities, management and other services to us and our insurance subsidiaries. In addition, Donegal Mutual purchases and maintains the information technology systems that support the business of Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries. Donegal Mutual allocates certain related expenses to Atlantic States in relation to the relative participation of Atlantic States and Donegal Mutual in the pooling agreement. Our insurance subsidiaries other than Atlantic States reimburse Donegal Mutual for allocated costs of services Donegal Mutual provides on their behalf based on their proportion of the total direct premiums written of the Donegal Insurance Group and other metrics. Donegal Mutual allocates costs related to its development and maintenance of information technology systems over the estimated useful life of those systems (generally five years) and charges a proportionate share of those costs to our insurance subsidiaries based on their percentage of the total net premiums written of the Donegal Insurance Group. Allocated expenses from Donegal Mutual for services it provided to our insurance subsidiaries totaled $224,811,543, $224,565,390 and $218,974,132 for 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Donegal Mutual completed all major development activities related to the multi-year effort to modernize certain of its key technology infrastructure and application systems. Donegal Mutual placed several releases of new systems into service beginning in 2020 and ending with the two final releases in 2025. Donegal Mutual allocated $11.3 million, $12.3 million and $10.5 million of related costs to our insurance subsidiaries in 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Donegal Mutual will allocate to our insurance subsidiaries their proportionate share of the remaining $45.6 million of related costs over the next five years.

Our management believes that the allocation methods Donegal Mutual utilizes are reasonable. In addition, Donegal Mutual and we maintain a coordinating committee that consists of two members of our board of directors, neither of whom is a member of Donegal Mutual’s board of directors, and two members of Donegal Mutual’s board of directors, neither of whom is a member of our board of directors. The purpose of the coordinating committee is to maintain a process for an ongoing evaluation of the fairness of the terms of all transactions between Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries.

c. Lease Agreement

We lease office equipment with terms ranging from 3 to 10 years to Donegal Mutual under a lease agreement effective January 1, 2020.