Lloyd’s chairman calls for continued underwriting discipline
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The grounding of the Boeing 737 Max fleet and worsening losses from Typhoon Jebi contributed to a deterioration in the underwriting performance of the Lloyd’s of London market, even as investment income boosted pre-tax profit to £2.3 billion ($3.0 billion) in the first half of 2019, up from £0.6 billion a year ago, chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said Wednesday.
Still, an average rate rise of 3.9% across the portfolio accompanied by a 1.2% fall in the operating expense ratio in the first half of 2019 are “positive results of the strong action we took last year to chase out underperforming business from the Lloyd’s market,” Mr. Carnegie-Brown said.
“I would expect us to redouble our efforts around the underperforming parts of the underwriting portfolio as we go into the planning cycle for 2020,” Mr. Carnegie-Brown said.
Lloyd’s recorded a combined ratio of 98.8% in the first half of 2019, a deterioration from 95.5% in the prior year period.
The most significant loss for the Lloyd’s market in the first half of the year was the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max fleet which had led to delays in delivery of new aircraft and business interruption claims, Mr. Carnegie-Brown said.
Like other insurers, Lloyd’s has also experienced adverse loss development around Typhoon Jebi, Mr. Carnegie-Brown said.
David Sansom has also been appointed as chief risk officer at Lloyd’s, after serving in the role on an interim basis for 12 months, he said.
“His role will be important in helping us to manage operationally the risks we’ll be taking on through the reorganization process,” Mr. Carnegie-Brown said.
In the role, Mr. Sansom will be joining the executive leadership team, Lloyd’s said.
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