Westfield Specialty reported gross written premium of $1.18 billion for the first half of 2026, up 25% from the same period a year earlier, alongside a 94.3% combined ratio.
Second-quarter premium alone rose 20% year over year to $622 million, with the combined ratio improving to 93.3% for the quarter.
The company's Specialty US platform, which includes its Surety business, generated $642 million in gross written premium for the half, up 26% year over year, with a 93.7% combined ratio. Specialty International contributed $540 million, up 23%, with a 94.8% combined ratio.
Westfield attributed the US platform's growth to strong new business momentum and broad-based expansion across products, tempered by what the company described as disciplined underwriting actions in more competitive segments.
On the international side, growth was tied to the platform's diversification strategy, continued investment in underwriting talent, deeper broker relationships and rising contributions from newer capabilities.
The half-year figures show Westfield Specialty's growth rate building through the year rather than simply holding steady.
First-quarter premium came in at $559 million, up 31% year over year with a 95.7% combined ratio, meaning the carrier improved its combined ratio by more than two points between the first and second quarters while still growing premium at a double-digit clip.
That trajectory follows a full 2025 in which Westfield Specialty wrote $1.93 billion in gross written premium at a 93.1% combined ratio, splitting roughly 55% from its US business and 45% from its international operations at the time.
Jack Kuhn, president of Westfield Specialty, credited the results to the breadth of the company's underwriting portfolio.
"We are pleased with our half-year results. We continue to gain the benefits of all the investments we have made across the portfolio," Kuhn said, pointing to the company's diversified book, underwriting discipline and expense management as the drivers behind the performance.
Westfield's growth is notable set against what some competitors have reported for the same period.
Kinsale Capital Group, one of the larger publicly traded excess and surplus lines carriers, reported gross written premium of $1.01 billion for the first half of 2026, down 2.9% from the prior year, driven primarily by a 30.9% decline in its commercial property division amid intensifying competition in that line.
Kinsale's results illustrate a market in which commercial property pricing has been softening broadly this year, a trend Insurance Business has tracked across WSIA's midyear E&S data, which found property rates easing even as casualty lines continued to harden.
Westfield's own release specifically referenced "disciplined underwriting actions in areas experiencing more competitive market conditions," language that suggests the carrier is navigating the same property softening Kinsale flagged, but offsetting it with growth elsewhere in a more diversified book spanning surety, international specialty lines and newer underwriting capabilities.
For brokers and MGAs placing specialty business, Westfield's ability to grow premium and improve its combined ratio simultaneously, even as a comparably sized peer pulled back in property, suggests capacity in the broader E&S market is becoming more differentiated by carrier rather than moving uniformly with the cycle. Westfield's own language about disciplined underwriting in competitive segments suggests brokers should expect continued selectivity in property placements even as the carrier pushes for growth elsewhere in its book.
