Cyber drives profits for Beazley
Beazley’s specialty lines segment, specifically cyber, helped to boost the company’s profits in the first quarter of 2015.
Beazley reported a six percent increase in its gross premiums written of $546 million in the first quarter of 2015, compared with $516 million in the same period in 2014.
The specialty lines segment wrote $226 million, an increase of 19 percent compared to 2014, while the life, accident and health division grew by 28 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014, primarily driven by growth in business written through its US admitted carrier Beazley Insurance Company.
This growth helped to offset the impact of the competitive trading environment which continues to be experienced across most lines of business.
The reinsurance division saw a decrease of 6 percent in premiums written to $88 million compared with $94 million in 2014.
Andrew Horton, chief executive officer, said: "We managed to offset the impact of the very competitive trading conditions in many of our lines with growth in specialty lines, particularly our cyber related business and life, accident and health where we have been investing. Gross premiums written by our underwriters based in the US grew to $147.9 million which represents growth of 36 percent in this business compared to the first quarter of 2014.
"At the end of March 2015, we announced a partnership with Korean Re, a top ten global reinsurer, to develop business together and to establish a special purpose syndicate at Lloyd's, syndicate 6050."
Syndicate 6050 will write a whole account quota share of Beazley syndicates 623 and 2623 and Beazley will take a quota share of Korean Re's commercial lines book. This equates to a reinsurance swap of approximately $20 million in gross premium between Beazley's managed syndicates and Korean Re.
The company also noted in a statement that it has continued to invest in underwriting talent, and in March 2015 appointed Ron Beauregard to head the company's US E&S property team.
