OCIL reports a small net profit for 2020 while maintaining maximum limits to customers
Oil Casualty Insurance (OCIL) reported a small profit for the year ended November 30, 2020, in its audited financial statements, released at its annual general meeting of shareholders.
OCIL reported net profit of $4 million for the year, having made a net loss of $546,000 for the year ended November 30, 2019.
It reported gross written premiums of $561 million, an increase of $188 million from the previous year. However, it made a net underwriting loss of $17 million for the period, with Jerry Rivers, its vice president and chief operating officer, admitting the underwriting performance for 2020 was disappointing. It did at least represent a $22 million dollar improvement on the underwriting figure for the previous year, he said.
“The company made great progress in 2020 increasing risk adjusted rates in our property and liability portfolios,” Rivers said. “We also scaled up our top line revenue in our assumed reinsurance business by nearly 65 percent. Most importantly, while many insurers reduced the limits they provide to energy clients, OCIL delivered on its value proposition by maintaining its maximum available limits.”
Bertil Olsson, OCIL’s president and chief executive officer, noted that, by creating a new subsidiary to provide excess liability insurance to US based energy companies, OCIL had executed on its strategic initiative to expand its customer base.
OCIL Specialty will enhance OCIL’s product offerings for smaller US energy companies that typically do not access insurance coverage in Bermuda, Rivers added.
As of January 1, 2021, OCIL Specialty, the Bermuda based class 3A insurance company, was listed on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) list of alien insurers with an AM Best rating of A-.
Olsson said the improving underwriting conditions in the market left OCIL well positioned to generate positive underwriting results in the future.
OCIL’s AGM was held by videoconference on April 21, 2021. Following the meeting, the board appointed John Weisner as chairman of the board, and John Talarico as deputy chairman.
