Things are looking good for Beazley Plc as the specialist insurer reveals its financial figures for the first nine months of 2019.
In the period ended September 30, Beazley posted a 12% increase in gross written premium (GWP) from US$1.96 billion in 2018 to US$2.19 billion this time around. The biggest jump, at 24% to US$662 million, was recorded by the specialty lines division.
Cyber & executive risk GWP grew 16% to US$567 million; political, accident & contingency, 11% to US$204 million; marine, 5% to US$231 million; and reinsurance, 2% to US$191 million.
Property GWP, on the other hand, fell 1% to US$337 million. The firm attributed the slight decline to its decision to cease writing construction and engineering business this year.
“We continue to see strong, double-digit premium growth across our business as a whole, driven by organic growth and rate rises across many lines of business,” noted chief executive Andrew Horton.
Beazley has also concluded its nine-month claims review, reporting an initial estimate of the costs of typhoons Faxai and Hagibis as well as hurricane Dorian at approximately US$80 million net of reinsurance and reinstatements premium.
Horton stated: “We have been anticipating a more difficult claims environment in areas such as directors & officers, employment practice liability, and healthcare liability in recent years. As such we have been adjusting our underwriting for several years in these areas and began opening at a higher reserve position at the start of 2018.”
Meanwhile Beazley’s investments and cash stood at US$5.66 billion in the period.
