Beazley is reporting a 27% increase in gross written premiums between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022.
The firm said that these had been $971m last year, but recently went up to $1,229m. At the same time, renewal rates reached 17%, up one percentage point from the year before. However, it did report an investment loss of $92m, after a gain in Q1 2021 of $27m.
Adrian Cox, CEO of Beazley, said: “The year has started well with gross premiums written increasing by 27% and growth slightly ahead of our expectations across all divisions. This is primarily driven by Cyber where rates have doubled in the first three months of 2022. Whilst the overall rating environment remains positive, the rate change across parts of our business is beginning to moderate.”
He added: “The impacts of the war in Ukraine go far beyond those which are financial, and our thoughts are with everyone who is impacted by this terrible conflict. We continue to monitor the situation closely and have assessed our potential exposures across our business. To date we have seen a small number of claims with respect to the conflict and we remain confident in our combined ratio guidance of around 90% for the full year.”
The growth in premiums, said the firm in a statement, was down to a combination of rate increases and adding exposure in several areas. The largest increase in gross premiums written was in market facilities, which saw a 69% increase between Q1 2021 and Q2 2022. Second to that were the 47% increases seen in cyber and executive risk, and digital.
“Overall,” said Beazley, “gross premiums written and rate change year to date are slightly ahead of expectations across all divisions.”
