Specialist commercial insurer International General Insurance Holdings (IGI) has revealed its financial results for the first quarter of 2022, which chair and chief executive Wasef Jabsheh considers as a “strong start” to the year.
Here are some of the key performance figures for IGI in the three months ended March 31:
|
Metric |
Q1 2022 |
Q1 2021 |
|
Gross written premium (GWP) |
$128.1 million |
$100.6 million |
|
Net underwriting result |
$41.3 million |
$27.6 million |
|
Profit for the period |
$19.4 million |
$10.2 million |
|
Core operating income |
$23.9 million |
$14.6 million |
According to IGI, the improved underwriting result is largely attributed to the growth in net premiums earned and to lower net claims and claim adjustment expenses. The rise in GWP, meanwhile, was mainly due to new business across all segments and rate increases on existing policies.
“IGI had a strong start to 2022 as our growth and cycle management strategy resulted in an excellent set of financial results across all key financial measures,” declared Jabsheh. “Most notably, we recorded a 50% increase in net underwriting results, a 90% increase in profit for the quarter, and a 64% increase in core operating income in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021, resulting in 8.8 points of improvement in our core operating return on average equity to 24.1%.
“We grew our gross premiums by 27% during the first quarter of 2022 as we continued to take advantage of a robust rating environment and capitalize on market opportunities in all areas of our business, while continuing to strengthen our existing portfolio. Our combined ratio for the first quarter of 2022 was 72.2%, an exceptional result and well below our long-term average of around 90%.”
Meanwhile the CEO noted that IGI has minimal direct exposure to Russia and Ukraine, and that the company does not expect any material losses from the ongoing conflict.
“Nevertheless,” he said, “it is events such as this that continue to remind us of the complexity and uncertainty of the world around us, and the impact they have on our global economies. Elevated inflationary pressures and rising interest rates in the first quarter of 2022 were evident in the mark-to-market impacts in our investment results.
“Overall, our performance in the first quarter of 2022 demonstrates the effectiveness of our underwriting strategy and provides another positive data point in the track record of high-quality results that IGI has achieved over many years. We expect that our markets and the rating environment will remain favourable for the foreseeable future, resulting in profitable growth in 2022.”
