Lloyd’s, the specialist insurance and reinsurance marketplace, generated profit after tax of £10.6 billion in 2025, an increase of $1 billion on the prior year, as gross written premium (GWP) rose by 4.2% year-on-year to £57.9 billion, reflecting new participation in the market and continued expansion by existing syndicates.
The world’s oldest re/insurance marketplace had a strong 2025, supported by a strong investment return of £6 billion (5.6%), compared with £4.9 billion (4.7%) in 2024, primarily driven by income and realised gains from fixed income assets.
Robust premium growth was offset by a 2.4% adverse foreign‑exchange impact as sterling strengthened against the US dollar, as well as a 3.7% reduction in price, which Lloyd’s says is consistent with a more competitive pricing environment.
The market’s underwriting result was strong at £5.2 billion despite a £100 million reduction year-on-year, with a combined ratio of 87.6%, slightly higher than 2024’s 86.9%.
For 2025, the major claims ratio fell to 5.8% from 7.8% in 2024, which reflects comparatively benign catastrophe losses in the latter part of the year. Major claims for the market hit £2.4 billion in 2025, net of reinsurance and inclusive of reinstatements payable and receivable, compared with £3.2 billion in 2024. The underlying combined ratio increased to 81.8% in 2025 from 79.1% in 2024.
Prior year reserve releases of £721 million provided a 1.7% benefit to the Lloyd’s combined ratio in 2025. Lloyd’s highlights favourable movement in property exposures partly offset by strengthening in aviation and casualty reserves.
The expense ratio hit 35.6% in 2025, up on the prior year’s 34.4%, driven by profitability-driven commissions, mix-driven acquisition costs, and impacts of foreign exchange.
As at the end of 2025, Lloyd’s capital position remains strong with total capital, reserves, and subordinated loan notes rising by 5.7% to £49.8 billion. Additionally, return on capital increased to 22%, while the Lloyd’s central solvency ratio increased to 496%, and the market-wide solvency ratio decreased to 200%.
Patrick Tiernan, Chief Executive, Lloyd’s, commented: “Strong underwriting performance, disciplined growth, and resilient investment returns underpinned the Lloyd’s market’s result in 2025.
“Supported by a very strong balance sheet, these results provide a firm foundation for the challenges and risks ahead, enabling the market to support communities, businesses and economies through periods of uncertainty. While the financial cost of catastrophes in 2025 was relatively modest, we remain acutely aware of the greater, human impact and those whose lives have been affected.
“Today we are also setting out a new five-year strategy – a disciplined, market-led and necessary sharpening of our financial edge. It focuses on underwriting performance, improving efficiency and maximising our unique capital advantage, to drive improved returns.
“This is how we will advance and protect Lloyd’s as the pre-eminent global marketplace for insurance risk.”
Today, the Lloyd’s market also announced its new strategy, which has four drivers: “leading underwriting performance; a more efficient marketplace that reduces friction and cost; maximising our unique capital advantage to enhance returns; and creating a Lloyd’s to be proud of – by fostering a culture of focus, innovation and talent.”
Lloyd’s states that although pricing conditions are becoming more challenging and volatility is on the rise, “our expectations are unchanged and we remain confident in the market’s ambitions focused on sectors and classes where rate adequacy is strongest.”
Sheila Cameron, CEO of the Lloyd’s Market Association, has welcomed the new Lloyd’s strategy.
“Lloyd’s has indicated a clear and coherent direction of travel, one that focuses on the fundamentals of Lloyd’s and plays to its strengths of advancing and protecting the market. This strategy enables and serves Lloyd’s core stakeholders, the managing agents. We believe this new direction will help Lloyd’s managing agents to deliver better and more efficient outcomes for their own clients, the policyholders.
“Maintaining market performance of sub 95% combined operating ratio through the cycle is the foundation on which all Lloyd’s Corporation strategies must be based. Additionally, the renewed focus on maximising the capital advantage for new and existing syndicates is the right thing to do and one which builds on the foundations created by London Bridge 2. Ensuring a tight correlation between oversight and risk will also be warmly received by managing agents.
“We support the commitment to complete the back office re-platform in a phased and controlled manner, which will enable managing agents to meet their regulatory operational resilience requirements and ultimately increase their trading efficiency.
“Finally, we particularly welcome Lloyd’s commitment to double its intake of early careers hires, with a view to feeding this talent into the market once they’ve completed their relevant training. The training will be shared by Lloyd’s and market participants through a market secondment programme. This initiative builds on the most recent report from the London Market Group (LMG), which outlined how only 7% of the London market will be under thirty years of age within the next ten years unless proactive steps are taken.
“A number of these points have been made by the LMA to Lloyd’s over the last 12 months and we are grateful that Lloyd’s has agreed to push these initiatives forward. We look forward to working in partnership with Lloyd’s to deliver this strategy and to fundamentally make this market a better place.”
