March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Insurers are poised to raise prices in 2009, led by higher rates for protection against windstorms and coverage of airplanes and bank executives, as declining investment yields pressure results, Lloyd’s of London said.

“We’re seeing sort of single-digit price movements at the moment, and it’s not all lines,” Richard Ward, chief executive officer of the world’s biggest insurance market, said in an interview today. “There will be a move in rates to make sure that underwriting in 2009 is profitable so that insurers have the funds to pay claims.”

Insurance companies, which have been cutting prices since 2004, were squeezed last year by the costliest hurricane season since 2005 and declines in the value of bonds held to back policies. The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression prompted investors to shun consumer debt and snap up Treasuries, sending U.S. government yields down.

“Investment income is going to be particularly challenging in 2009 with interest rates down close to zero percent,” Ward said.

Travelers Cos., the biggest insurer by market value, and Warren, New Jersey-based Chubb Corp. both reported profit declines in each quarter last year. New York-based American International Group Inc. and XL Capital Ltd., based in Bermuda, dropped more than 90 percent apiece in 2008 in New York trading as investments tied to the U.S. housing market depleted capital.

Commercial insurance rates in the U.S. fell 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter from the same period a year earlier, the smallest decline since 2006, according to a survey by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers.

Lloyd’s said today pretax profit declined 51 percent last year to 1.9 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) on lower investment returns and losses in claims from Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. The results are an aggregate of all the companies that write insurance through the Lloyd’s market.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 24, 2009 13:12 EDT