R&Q accelerates US E&S market entry as demand surges amid pandemic

Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings (R&Q) is expected to enter the US excess & surplus (E&S) programme management market in the fourth quarter of 2020, earlier than initially planned.

The legacy insurance specialist sees "strong demand" in the sector and seeks to achieve its strategic objective of becoming a comprehensive programme management solutions provider, taking advantage of the current favourable market conditions.

R&Q's programme management business saw its gross written premium rise 43 percent to $247.2 million in the first half of 2020, compared to $172.9 million in H1 2019.

Contracted premium jumped 114 percent to $924.5 million during the period, compared to $431.6 million in the same period of 2019.

The firm reported an economic commission revenue increase of 88 percent in H1 2020 to $10.7 million (H1 2019: $5.7 million).

Additionally, the segment added 10 new programmes in H1 2020 bringing the total number of active programs to 36.

Subsequent to the end of second quarter 2020, four new programmes were signed with a contracted premium of approximately $200 million, all of which are expected to begin generating gross written premium in the near term.

"We continue to see strong demand from new origination partners as existing insurance capacity faces capital challenges given the magnitude of the insured losses from COVID-19," said Alan Quilter, group chief executive officer of R&Q. "Moreover, due to current market conditions, we expect to enter the US E&S Program Management market, a large addressable market in which we do not presently compete, in Q4 2020, accelerating our original plans. This launch will see Accredited achieve its strategic objective of being a comprehensive program management solutions provider in all its major markets.”

Quilter added: “In the first half of 2020, our Program Management business, trading under the Accredited banner, continued to grow strongly. Importantly, this business has significant built-in growth through the 36 existing programs and 34 different distribution partners with whom we have secured contracts as of the end of Q2 2020. In addition, the four new programs we signed post the half year, are expected to generate in excess of $200 million of annual recurring Gross Written Premium when they achieve scale over the next 18 months."