Hamilton at Lloyd’s to double 2016 premium

Hamilton at Lloyd’s is confident it will reach its premium plan for 2016, and already has plans to almost double that figure in 2017, partially thanks to the underwriting talent it has attracted after launching at Lloyd’s last year, Trevor Carvey, active underwriter/head of treaty, told Baden-Baden Today.

Hamilton at Lloyd’s premium plan for its first full year at Lloyd’s was £69.5 million ($85 million). Carvey said the managing agency will be approaching that by the end of Q4.

In terms of 2017, the plan is to reach £123 million and achieve what he calls ‘run-rate profitability’—its forecast of future profits based on what it has achieved so far.

“There is a scale you need to achieve in Lloyd’s to be able to generate a reasonable net income. In that respect, the challenge has been to grow that in the current market,” Carvey said.

“The key for us is to achieve a scale in Lloyd’s in run-rate profitability to create a meaningful contribution to the market we are in.”

Carvey attributes part of its success of building out its Lloyd’s presence to the teams it has recruited since the acquisition of Hamilton Underwriting and Syndicate 3334 by Hamilton Insurance in April 2015, creating Hamilton at Lloyd’s.

“When we acquired the agency in 2015, there was only a handful of staff—currently we are just under 60,” he said.

The teams, recruited during 2016, are now in place to help drive growth in 2017, he said. “There’s no doubt the teams we’ve recruited are well-known in the industry and have a lot of experience, and in that respect we have been very fortunate to attract them in. That has made the transition much smoother.”

Carvey says the reaction from customers and buyers to Hamilton at Lloyd’s has been very good, and the addition of the Lloyd’s platform to operations in Bermuda and the US has been welcomed by clients in further geographical regions.