
Ascot Bermuda rating affirmed
Ascot Bermuda has had its financial strength rating of A affirmed by ratings agency AM Best.
The ratings agency also affirmed the A ratings of Ascot’s US insurance group. The outlook is stable.
AM Best said Ascot had a very strong balance sheet which was supported by its parent, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments).
“AM Best views Ascot Bermuda and Ascot US as strategically important to Ascot and fully integrated within the group’s operations and management,” the ratings agency said. “Ascot Bermuda is the group’s Bermuda-based re/insurance platform, while Ascot US provides the group with access to the US excess & surplus and admitted lines markets. Ascot US entities are supported by a net worth maintenance agreement.”
AM Best said Ascot had gross written premium of $3.8 billion in 2023, adding: “Ascot US and Ascot Bermuda increasingly provide diversification to the group’s underwriting portfolio, which historically had concentration toward US property risks through its Lloyd’s syndicate. Ascot has a stable and experienced management team that has been strengthened appropriately as its business has grown.
“Ascot has a track record of adequate underwriting performance, demonstrated by the group’s consolidated five-year weighted average combined ratio of 97.9% between 2019 and 2023 (as calculated by AM Best).
“The main contributor to the group’s earnings, Ascot’s Syndicate 1414, achieved an average combined ratio of 90.8% over the same period, which was several percentage points better than the overall Lloyd’s market. Underwriting profitability in 2023 benefitted by a strong underlying premium rate environment combined with a moderately low loss incidence in the period.”
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