CORRECTED-Beazley 2623 combined ratio deteriorates to 85% in 2024

By Michael Jones

March 21 - (The Insurer) - Beazley's flagship Syndicate 2623 disclosed on Thursday that it recorded a combined ratio of 85% for 2024, a 5 percentage point deterioration on the prior year.

In its annual report and accounts, the syndicate said this was due to a deterioration in both the claims and expense ratios.

Its 2024 claims ratio of 47% was a 4 point deterioration on the prior year, which it said was a result of higher relative catastrophe losses during the year, including hurricanes Milton and Helene.

Its result for 2024 was $758.4 million, a 19.1% decrease on the prior year.

Syndicate 2623 reported gross written premiums of $2.93 billion for 2024, a decrease of 34.9% on the prior year's $4.5 billion.

Beazley attributed the decrease to its U.S.-based underwriters no longer writing through Syndicate 2623, the syndicate's portfolio being rebalanced to cover a smaller share of wholesale business written in London and Singapore, and Syndicate 2623 taking a smaller share of risks that are written in parallel by Syndicate 623.

Beazley's overall GWP written across its Lloyd's syndicates decreased by 1.43% to $5.91 billion from 2023's $6 billion, according to an analysis of syndicate disclosures based on exchange rates from December 31 in both years.

The decrease in Syndicate 2623's GWP was largely offset by Syndicate 3623 increasing its GWP by 4,108.2% year on year to $1.34 billion and Syndicate 623's GWP rising by 7.59% to $1.05 billion.

Syndicate 2623 said that rate increases softened in 2024 to 0.2% across the portfolio, which compared to 5% in 2023.

Rates for property risks increased 1.8%, while the MAP risks segment reported increases of 1.1%. This compared to increases of 22% and 6%, respectively, in the prior year.

Cyber rates decreased by 4.4% in 2024 and specialty risks remained "relatively flat" year on year.

Investments generated a return of $291.5 million in 2024, up 15.9% on 2023's $251.5 million return. Beazley said this was the largest contribution from investments in the syndicate's history.