MAP Risks reported gross premiums written of $1,107.8m (2021: $897.5m), and a combined ratio of 84% (2021: 85%). The division is exposed to the war in Ukraine in its Marine, Aviation, Political Risk and Terrorism lines of business - yet, despite the claims arising from the conflict, delivered a profit of $91.6m (2021: $167.5m).
Beazley’s Marine, Aviation, Political, Accident, Contingency and Portfolio underwriting came together in 2022. These highly specialist classes are mainly underwritten on a wholesale basis via our Lloyd’s platform and our expert underwriters are often the market leader.
Positive results from specialist team
The 2022 result was impacted by the war in Ukraine, and this has represented a potentially material loss to our book. Despite this, MAP Risks delivered a profit for 2022, which is a credit to the expertise and hard work of our team, who have been focusing on helping clients as they have faced extraordinary difficulties.
Bringing together Beazley’s Marine division with the Political, Accident and Contingency division and Portfolio Underwriting has brought synergies and opportunities for cross selling. Our specialist underwriting teams are leading members of the Lloyd’s market and we see positive opportunities to expand access to their technical skill and sector knowledge by leveraging our domestic underwriting platforms: in the US and Europe alongside Asia via our Singapore operation, where business comes into our Lloyd’s syndicates.
Value of expert underwriting reflected in rates
The rating environment remains buoyant, with an overall rate increase of 4%, although we are now seeing pressure in some lines, including Aviation where capacity has returned after COVID-19. The war in Ukraine has impacted a range of classes and as a result we have seen significant uplifts in the rating environment in some of these areas. As a responsible business we are mindful of the importance of Ukraine as an exporter of grain, and the negative impact the conflict is having on world food supplies, and are supportive of market efforts to assist in facilitating the flow of these vital global commodities.
2022 saw our Contingency underwriting recover from the impact of COVID-19 with positive premium growth and, despite recessionary fears, we expect that trend to continue into 2023.
The value of our Political Risk cover has been fully demonstrated by the geopolitical turmoil of the past 12 months and we are seeing heightened interest from businesses looking to protect overseas assets, and the rating environment remains robust for this class.
Our Portfolio Underwriting business, which is primarily reinsured to an external special purpose syndicate 5623, has delivered three consecutive years of profit. In January 2023, syndicate 5623 became a full stand alone syndicate, writing all Portfolio Underwriting business directly. Beazley will be providing circa 18% of the capacity for the 2023 year of account for this syndicate.
ESG syndicate 4321 launched in the year and wrote $10.5m of premium which the Group has a 10% share of. The syndicate provides additional follow capacity across several different classes of business to over 250 Beazley clients with a strong ESG rating since January 2022, building momentum through the year. A unique offering, the ESG consortium has been particularly successful for clients actively seeking to include ESG within their insurance programme and we have registered strong take up for both Financial Lines and Cyber clients in particular, and we are exploring growth opportunities in Europe.
Our specialist underwriters continue to innovate in established lines, be it on Marine, Cyber, embedding ESG principles and helping clients transition to net zero, or in underwriting the first commercial insurance on the moon and acting as the leader in the development of insurance for commercial space ports.
While there are rating pressures beginning to be felt in some classes, the geopolitical turbulence of the last 12 months only serves to demonstrate the importance of the specialist insurance and sector expertise that our underwriters consistently deliver.
Beazley’s Marine, Aviation, Political, Accident, Contingency and Portfolio underwriting came together in 2022. These highly specialist classes are mainly underwritten on a wholesale basis via our Lloyd’s platform and our expert underwriters are often the market leader.
