Specialist insurer Beazley has released its trading statement for the first nine months of 2022.
The firm said that it had seen gross written premiums rise by 22%, compared to the first nine months of 2021. Meanwhile, it said premium rates on renewal business had increased by 17%, lower than the previous year’s 23%.
It also said that its estimated losses arising from Hurricane Ian stand at $120m, net of reinsurance.
Adrian Cox, chief executive officer of Beazley, said: “We have had a strong underwriting performance over the quarter with all divisions continuing to grow. As expected, overall rates have moderated, however we are seeing increased demand across many lines of business which supports our growth ambitions.”
He added: “Whilst mark to market losses have occurred due to rising yields in our fixed income portfolio, rising yields also mean we anticipate significant future investment returns. We remain confident of our guidance of high 80s combined ratio assuming claims experience is as expected for the remainder of the year.”
Notable amongst the various segments was that Beazley said that it had seen rate increases of 51%, although this was a trend that was moderated in Q3 of this year.
The firm also pointed to a more-competitive D&O market than it had expected at the beginning of the year. This has led, it said, to slightly lower growth of 10% in its specialty risks segment.
In other areas, the firm wrote: “Our investments returned a loss of 1.2%, or $96m in the third quarter of 2022, bringing the year-to-date loss to 3.6%, or $289m. This is a consequence of the unprecedented increase in interest rates, in the first nine months of the year, generating mark to market losses in our fixed income portfolio. Risk assets have also seen weakness, as global equity markets fell by more than 25%.
“At 30 September, our fixed income portfolio had a duration of 1.9 years and a market yield of 4.6%, which is indicative of the much higher returns we hope to achieve in future periods, once yields stabilise.”
