Gross written premiums increased $111.7 million, or 22.6%, to $605.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2016, compared with $493.8 million for the same period last year. The increase predominantly reflects market share growth in our homeowners’ and personal automobile lines of business. Homeowners’ gross written premiums increased $63.0 million, or 14.0%, to $512.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2016, compared with $449.8 million for the same twelve-month period last year. Gross written premiums for our personal automobile line of business increased by $47.6 million to $69.5 million in 2016, compared to $21.9 million in the prior year period. This increase is also reflected in in the increase in our homeowners’ in-force policy count to 279,109 as of December 31, 2016, compared with 254,105 as of December 31, 2015. These increases reflect management’s strategy to continue to grow market share in Florida as well as expand operations outside of Florida with the growth in our personal automobile line of business. With the expansion into areas outside of Florida, we are able to continue to leverage our personnel and, at the same time, diversify our insurance risk.
The following table represents the gross premiums earned breakout for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014:
Gross premiums earned increased $119.2 million, or 38.1%, to $432.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2015, compared with $313.1 million for the same period in 2014.
evaluation process includes, but is not limited to, identifying contracts within the scope of the guidance, reviewing and documenting our accounting for these contracts, and identifying and determining the accounting for any related contract costs.
In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting (“ASU 2016-09”), which is intended to simplify several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. ASU 2016-09 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods therein. Early application is permitted. The guidance will be adopted on a prospective basis as indicated by the guidance for each area of change and will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments- Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“ASU 2016-13”) which significantly changes the measurement of credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. ASU 2016-13 will require entities to record allowances for available-for-sale debt securities rather than reduce the carrying amount, as currently performed under the other-than-temporary impairment model. Additionally, the standard will require enhanced disclosures for financial assets measured at amortized cost and available-for-sale debt securities to help the financial statement users better understand significant judgments used in estimating credit losses, as well as the credit quality and underwriting standards of an entity’s portfolio. ASU 2016-13 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. We are currently evaluating the effects the adoption of ASU 2016-13 will have on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
spreads (for investment grade securities), observations of equity and credit default swap curves (for high-yield corporates), reference data and industry and economic events.
FNIC and MNIC operate primarily by underwriting and accepting risks for their direct account on a gross basis and reinsuring a portion of the exposure on either an individual risk or an aggregate basis to the extent those exceed the desired retention level. We continually evaluate the relative attractiveness of different forms of reinsurance contracts and different markets that may be used to achieve our risk and profitability objectives. All of our reinsurance contracts do not relieve FNIC or MNIC from their direct obligations to the insured.
As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, on a consolidated statutory basis, the capital and surplus of the Company’s insurance companies was $172.1 million and $175.9 million, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2016 consolidated statutory net loss of the Company’s insurance companies was $37.0 million. For the years ended December 31, 2015, and 2014, consolidated statutory net income of the Company’s insurance companies was $23.9 million and $29.3 million, respectively. Statutory capital and surplus significantly exceeds amounts necessary to satisfy regulatory requirements.