Reinsurance unit drives growth at Global Indemnity

Profits at Global Indemnity, which writes commercial and personal lines property/casualty business in the US and reinsurance through a Bermuda subsidiary, increased in 2016 as the company also enjoyed strong growth in its reinsurance book.

The Cayman Islands-based company made a net profit of $49.9 million last year, an improvement on the $41.5 million it made a year earlier. Its combined ratio increased to 98.4 percent compared with 94.5 percent in the same period a year earlier.

Its overall gross written premiums fell to $565.8 million, compared with $590.2 million in 2015. But this was largely due to its commercial and personal lines books shrinking.

Its commercial lines business shrank by 4.2 percent, which it said was mainly due to non-renewal of a programme. Its strategy of ceding more premiums in an effort to reduce exposure to catastrophes and large losses contributed to the decrease in net premiums written.

On the personal lines side, its GWP decreased by almost 8 percent. The company noted that this includes business written by American Reliable that is ceded to insurance entities owned by Assurant under a 100 percent quota share reinsurance agreement. Excluding this business, GWP decreased by 1.8 percent. a reduction in net premiums written WAS due to purchasing additional reinsurance to reduce catastrophe exposure.

In contrast, its reinsurance unit enjoyed strong growth, its GWP increasing to $60 million last year, a 20 percent increase on the year before, which it said was largely due to a large new treaty it wrote in the fourth quarter of last year.

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