Specialty lines book boosts Beazley despite wider softening rates

Beazley's book of business grew in the first nine-months of 2016 on the back of the performance of its specialty lines, which both grew and enjoyed rate increases.

In contrast, rates in all other areas continued to soften, resulting in an average rate decrease of 2 percent across the portfolio as a whole, the company said. Only specialty lines bucked this trend with rate increases of 1 percent.

Beazley said it continues to experience a highly competitive market environment particularly in respect of large risk, catastrophe exposed classes of business.

In response, Beazley aims to rebalance its portfolio in favour of small risks where it believes it can achieve more sustainable margins.

Beazley's gross written premiums for the nine-month period ending September 30 were $1.7 billion, an increase of 2 percent year-on-year (YOY).

The gross premiums written for specialty lines in the third quarter were $824 million, up 10 percent YOY.

Its GWP for reinsurance was $198 million, an increase of 2 percent YOY; its GWP for property was $263, a decrease of 7 percent.

Marine shrunk the most with its GWP of $184 million shrinking by15 percent.

Andrew Horton, CEO of Beazley, said: “We have maintained our momentum in the third quarter, driven principally by the strong performance of our specialty lines division, where premiums grew by 10 percent compared to the equivalent period last year. We continue to attract talented underwriters to Beazley in London, the US and continental Europe.”