Bermuda-headquartered Lancashire Holdings Limited has issued its trading statement for the nine months ended September 30, and things are looking good for the specialty (re)insurance provider.
According to Lancashire, its gross written premium (GWP) for the period rose 46.9% to US$967.7 million. Of the total, US$503.4 million came from property and casualty (P&C) reinsurance; US$158.4 million, P&C insurance; and US$145.2 million from energy.
Also contributing are aviation and marine, with US$92.1 million and US$68.6 million in GWP, respectively. Among the segments, only marine saw a decline from the same nine-month span in 2020. The biggest jump, meanwhile, was in P&C reinsurance, at 85.3%.
Lancashire said GWP in the property catastrophe class within the P&C reinsurance unit grew largely as a result of new business and rate increases.
“Inwards reinstatement premiums, principally as a result of natural catastrophe loss events in the third quarter of 2021, also contributed meaningfully to the growth in this segment,” added the company. “With the addition of new underwriting teams in 2021, there was new business bound in the casualty, accident and health, and specialty reinsurance classes.
“The remainder of the book saw strong new business growth, in the first nine months of 2021, across a range of segments and particularly in the property political risk, property direct and facultative, aviation, energy power and energy liabilities classes of business.”
Timing differences in the marine liability and marine hull classes, meanwhile, were cited as drivers of the drop in GWP. Lancashire said several multi-year or non-annual policies were not yet up for renewal.
“Despite another challenging year of losses for Lancashire and the industry, I am very pleased with the group’s growth in premium in an improved and still-improving rating environment in many of our core business lines,” commented group chief executive Alex Maloney. “We have reported an increase in gross premiums written of 46.9% to US$967.7 million for the year to date, delivering on our strategy to deploy more of our capital when pricing conditions are favourable.”
In October, Lancashire revealed that it has exposures to natural catastrophe events such as hurricane Ida and European storms Bernd, Volker, and Xero. Loss estimates, however, are within Lancashire’s risk appetites and expectations.
Maloney stated: “The devastating consequences of the recent catastrophe events remind us of the value of the insurance and risk solutions we sell, providing the opportunity for communities to rebuild following loss and disruption. Looking ahead, the group remains strongly capitalised to be able to take advantage of the improving market, both for the rest of this year and to achieve our ambitious underwriting plans for 2022.”
