NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — US property and casualty insurers are well capitalised and a "substantial majority" won't sell stock to the government under Treasury's $700 billion bailout of financial companies, the American Insurance Association said.

The property-casualty carriers are "well positioned to weather the current financial crisis," Evan Greenberg, chief executive officer of Ace Ltd. and chairman of the Washington-based trade group, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

Property insurers including Travelers Cos. and Chubb Corp. have withstood the credit slump better than carriers that specialise in life policies. Life insurers are in talks with the Treasury about potential government investments, said Jack Dolan, a spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers.

"We are 100 percent on board" with the AIA, said Mark Greenberg, a spokesman for Warren, New Jersey-based Chubb. Travelers, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, also doesn't plan to sell a stake to the US, said spokesman Shane Boyd in an interview.

Property and casualty insurance stocks have declined 28 percent in the past month compared with the 50 percent slide of life insurers, which tend to invest more in asset-backed securities and corporate debt.