19 March 2020News

Maiden reports net loss for 2019 as reinsurance business begins new life in Vermont

Maiden reported a net loss for 2019 but significantly reduced the size of that loss year on year, as it reported its first set of results since it re-domesticated its reinsurance business to the State of Vermont.

Maiden reported a net loss of $131.9 million for the full year 2019, an improvement on the net loss of $570.3 million reported in 2018.

Gross premiums written were negative $528.6 million for the year, down from $2.02 billion in 2018, as Maiden terminated quota share contracts in the AmTrust Reinsurance segment, and returned unearned premiums on certain lines covered by a partial termination amendment with AmTrust Financial Services, effective January 1, 2019.

For Q4 2019 Maiden reported a net loss of $21.5 million, also down on the same period in 2018, when it made a net loss of $269.2 million.

Gross premiums written were negative $5.4 million for Q4 2019, compared to $388.5 million in Q4 2018, also due to the termination of quota share contracts and the return of some unearned premiums.

Maiden Reinsurance, the principal operating subsidiary of Maiden, began operating as a Vermont-based business from March 16, 2020. It said it had made the move to better align its operations, capital and resources with its liabilities, which originate mostly in the US.

Maiden Reinsurance is now subject to the statutes and regulations of Vermont in the ordinary course of business. The re-domestication does not apply to the parent holding company, which remains a Bermuda-based holding company.

Lawrence Metz, Maiden’s president and chief executive officer, called the move “a major strategic step,” that will appreciably strengthen its solvency ratios.

“Our operating results continue to improve, although the fourth quarter results were impacted by slightly higher non-recurring expenses and it remains a principal focus to lower the run rate of all expenses,” Metz said.

Patrick Haveron, Maiden’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said Maiden’s strategic focus in 2020 will be on improving risk-adjusted shareholder returns, whether via asset and capital management or active reinsurance underwriting, or a combination of both.

“Our present assessment of the reinsurance marketplace, along with our current operating profile, is that the risk-adjusted returns produced by other strategic initiatives may create greater shareholder value versus active reinsurance underwriting,” he added.




More on this story

Operations
17 October 2019   Maiden Reinsurance will re-domesticate from Bermuda to the State of Vermont in the US.

More on this story

Operations
17 October 2019   Maiden Reinsurance will re-domesticate from Bermuda to the State of Vermont in the US.