Results

The company generated a $10mn underwriting gain in insurance, reversing last year’s $80mn loss, though the reinsurance division’s loss widened to $69mn.

The Corporation’s CEO also warned that the increasing use of captives was “dangerous” for clients.

The carrier launched a share buyback and announced portfolio rebalancing actions.

The CEO and president said he expects to shrink the portfolio for retro-focussed sidecar Upsilon.

Performance declined at the reinsurer’s third-party ventures owing to Q3’s big cat events.

The reinsurer grew GWP by 55% – to $1.77bn – helped by a surge in reinstatement premiums, but the company was weighed down by $727mn in net cat claims.

Despite four major storms striking the US, Heritage sees Q3 cat losses decline by 35%.

The carrier also signalled unfavourable reserve developments linked to asbestos and environmental exposures.

The carrier said the claims stemmed from Hurricane Ida and storms in Europe.

The preliminary result was achieved despite EUR600mn losses from Bernd damages, as well as EUR1.2bn losses from Hurricane Ida.

Its $725mn estimated losses equated to 10% of shareholders’ equity and came in ahead of its Q3 2017 losses of $617mn.

Axis estimates Hurricane Ida will be a $35bn industry loss event while the European floods – from which Axis expects a $55mn bill – are projected to cost the industry $13bn.