Lancashire CEO 'pleased' with rates increases and new business volumes

Lancashire Holdings' gross written premiums increased 14 percent in the first nine months of 2020, driven by rise in both premium rates and new business volumes. Chief executive Alex Maloney praised the resilience of the company’s business model and operations in a “uniquely challenging year to date”.

The insurer's gross written premiums increased to $658.7 million in the first nine months of 2020.

Its catastrophe losses for the third quarter specifically were in the range of $65 million to $75 million.

There was no change to its previously announced COVID-19 loss estimate of approximately $42 million.

“In what has been a uniquely challenging year to date, I am pleased with the resilience demonstrated by our people, our business model and our operations," said Maloney.

“We continue to see strengthening premium rate increases across the majority of our business portfolio, with RPIs of 117 percent for the quarter and 112 percent for the year to 30 September," he said. "I am encouraged by the opportunity these trends provide for meaningful and disciplined growth.”

Maloney added: “As insurers, we expect to support our clients and to pay covered losses when they occur, and the sequence of both natural catastrophe and risk loss events during the year so far has impacted our, and the industry’s, profitability for the year to date. I would expect this to put further impetus on the industry to charge an adequate and sustainable price per unit of risk.”