IGI records small loss for Q1 but combined ratio improves

International General Insurance Holdings (IG) marked its first quarter as a Bermuda-domiciled entity by reporting a small loss in Q1 2020, but also recorded a significant improvement in its combined ratio.

IGI recorded a net loss of $0.9 million in Q1 2020, having generated a profit of $6.5 million in the same period of 2019.

However, IGI saw growth in gross written premiums, which increased to $99.2 million in Q1 2020, compared to $80.0 million for Q1 2019. That reflected year on year growth of 24 percent.

Its combined ratio was 81.3 percent in Q1, compared to 95.1 percent in Q1 2019, an improvement it attributed to lower acquisition and general and administrative expenses, as well as growth in earned premiums.

IGI also benefited from improved claims and claims expense ratios, which resulted from relatively benign catastrophe activity, IGI said. Foreign exchange fluctuations also worked in IGI’s favour.

IGI chairman and chief executive Wasef Jabsheh noted the quarter had not only been extraordinary for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but because IGI had become a public company and began trading on Nasdaq.

IGI’s results clearly reflected the impact of the crisis, Jabsheh said. “While we recorded unrealised investment losses and significant fluctuations in our operating currencies, to date we have not recorded material underwriting losses as a direct result of the pandemic,” he said. “But we are constantly monitoring this as the situation continues to evolve.”