Everest Re losses widen in ‘turbulent’ market, but CEO poised on hardening

Losses at re/insurer  Everest Re widened driven by an active catastrophe quarter and volatile market conditions. But, the company’s chief executive is poised to take advantage of the hardening market and return to profitability by focusing on segments with the best risk adjusted returns.

Everest Re suffered a net loss of $319 million in Q3 primarily from Hurricane Ian and other events including European Hailstorms, Hurricane Fiona and Typhoon Nanmadol. This compares to the net loss of $73 million in the prior year quarter.

Gross written premium (GWP) increased by 6.3 percent to reach $3.7 billion (from $3.5 billion in Q3 2021) and combined ratios were 112% for the group (112.2 percent), 115 percent for reinsurance (115.5 percent), and 103.5 percent (102.5 percent) for insurance due to catastrophe losses in the quarter.

GWP in its reinsurance segment increased to $2.55 billion from $2.49 billion year on year, and to $1.3 billion from $1.01 billion in its insurance business.

Juan Andrade (Pictured), president and chief executive officer of Everest Re Group, said: “The third quarter’s heightened risk environment, including global catastrophe events and continued global economic uncertainty further underscored the strength of Everest’s business and commitment to support our customers with solutions vital to navigating this turbulent period in history.”

He added: “Everest’s diversification strategy and underwriting discipline were key to mitigating our exposure to one of the industry’s largest hurricane losses in US history. With our well-defined strategy, we’re poised to take advantage of the hardening market, focused on segments with the best risk adjusted returns.”

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