International General Insurance Holdings Company (IGI) grew its gross written premiums to $74 million in the third quarter of 2019, and saw premium rate increases across various specialty classes of business.
Premiums were up 16% on the same period in 2018, when the company reported gross written premiums of $64 million.
Rates were similarly up approximately 10.6% across the IGI portfolio, with the most significant increases in the London marketplace in Specialty and Casualty lines including Directors & Officers, Professional Indemnity, Financial Institutions and Aviation.
The company is due to complete its NASDAQ public market listing in the first quarter of 2020 with Tiberius, as previously announced in October.
IGI expects the move to add approximately $120 million of equity to its balance sheet, allowing for the deployment of more capital to take advantage of attractive market conditions.
“The global insurance market is in a better position than we have seen for a long time,” said Wasef Jabsheh, Founder, Vice Chairman and CEO of IGI.
“The broader insurance landscape has seen better market conditions and significantly improved rates across various lines of business,” he explained. “We have laid the foundation for long-term sustainable and profitable growth and now there is a good opportunity to deploy additional capital profitably.”
Given current market conditions, IGI plans to lower its volatility via reinsurance purchases that are designed to enhance enhance risk-adjusted returns whilst using treaty reinsurance to protect capital.
The company added that it is reserving approximately $2 million on a gross and net basis to account for catastrophe claims in the third quarter, including Hurricane Dorian and Typhoon Faxai.
Finally, IGI’s investment portfolio has not been repositioned from the half year and retains its significant cash position as the yield environment worsened in the quarter.
“We will continue to opportunistically move cash into highly-rated short-term fixed income securities to generate additional revenue without a meaningful change in our conservative financial positioning,” the company stated.
Established in 2001, IGI is an international specialist commercial insurer and reinsurer, with a portfolio of business including energy, property, construction & engineering, ports & terminals, financial institutions, casualty, legal expenses, directors & officers, general aviation, professional indemnity, marine liability, political violence, forestry and reinsurance treaty.
