Amlin’s Bermuda renewal rates take a tumble

Re/insurer Amlin’s Bermuda division saw renewal rates fall 8.3 percent in the first nine months of 2014.

However, its gross written premiums in Bermuda grew to £340.2 million in the first nine months of 2014, compared with £331.3 million in the first nine months of 2013.

Amlin’s overall gross written premium (GWP) for the nine months ended 30 September 2014 was up 4.2 percent at £2.3 billion, compared with £2.2 billion in the first nine months of 2013. At constant rates of exchange, the increase was 9.9 percent.

Following the changes made to outwards reinsurance at the start of the year, net written premium increased by 8.8 percent.

Overall for Amlin, renewal rates fell 3.5 percent on average.

Amlin said: “The underwriting environment has become more challenging in property catastrophe reinsurance. However, Amlin’s strong client proposition, enhanced by Leadenhall Capital Partners, has enabled Amlin to achieve modest growth of 5.3 percent with a focus on those areas where pricing meets hurdle rates of return. The average renewal rate decrease was 8.2 percent.”

However, other lines did not experience the same degree of pressure with Amlin Re Europe continuing to develop positively, adding £41.1 million of new business for the nine months period, mostly from growth in non-catastrophe lines, which achieved an average rate increase of 0.3 percent.

Reinsurance expenditure in the first nine months of 2014 was £273.1 million, representing 11.9 percent of GWP, compared with £343.5 million in the first nine months of 2013, representing 15.6 percent of GWP. As previously reported, the reduction reflects the closure of Special Purpose Syndicate 6106, which accounted for £34 million of reinsurance expenditure in the prior period.

Charles Philipps, Amlin’s chief executive, said: “We are pleased with our progress to date in 2014 and are confident that we can continue to deliver healthy returns for shareholders. Against a backdrop of intensifying competition as a result of increasing industry capital, we have successfully maintained underwriting discipline while making good progress in building a more diversified business which is better suited to meeting the challenges of the current environment.”