31 March 2021News

Aspen Insurance reports a loss for 2020, insists improved performance is encouraging

Aspen Insurance Holdings reported a loss for the full year in 2020 but reduced the size of the loss considerably compared to the previous year, insisting that its underlying performance, discounting the impact of COVID, offered signs of encouragement.

Aspen reported a net loss after tax of $40.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, a significant improvement on the $241.7 million net loss recorded in 2019.

Gross written premiums across the group increased by 7.6 percent to $3.7 billion in 2020, from $3.44 billion in 2019. For the reinsurance business specifically, gross written premiums increased by 11.8 percent to $1.66 billion in 2020, from $1.49 billion in 2019. The rise was driven by growth in premiums written in casualty reinsurance, property catastrophe reinsurance and other property reinsurance lines, and was partially offset by a reduction in specialty reinsurance lines.

Aspen’s combined ratio shrank a little to 107.3 percent in 2020, from 113.9 percent in 2019.

Mark Cloutier, group executive chairman and chief executive officer, said COVID-19 had made 2020 a year that was “more challenging than many of us can remember, with both profound human and economic consequences.”

He admitted the combined ratio remains elevated, due to COVID-linked losses, but insisted Aspen’s “underlying performance gives me great encouragement around the progress we are making as a business including successfully reducing our catastrophe exposure.” He noted that the operating combined ratio had improved significantly to 91.8 percent.