Hamilton to write all its peak catastrophe reinsurance in Bermuda

Hamilton Insurance Group, the Bermuda headquartered insurance and reinsurance holding company, has announced that it will stop writing property treaty reinsurance out of London and is consolidating these activities within its Bermuda hub.

As a result, the majority of Hamilton’s peak peril catastrophe reinsurance underwriting will take place in Bermuda, with US regional property reinsurance business still supported through a US-based team.

The move means that it will cease writing property treaty reinsurance through its Lloyd’s Syndicate 4000 in London altogether.

“We regularly review our book to ensure that we continue to drive underwriting profitability in line with Hamilton’s strategy of building a global, diversified specialty insurance and reinsurance company,” explained Adrian Daws, CEO, Hamilton Managing Agency Limited.

“This decision allows us to reduce volatility in our Lloyd’s business and focus on writing specialty niche products.”

Hamilton writes reinsurance already out of Bermuda and that is where the firm’s third-party capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS) activities take place as well.

Which means it makes sense to consolidate these writings there, given the expertise present at the Hamilton base in Bermuda.

This is another sign of the increasing globalisation of catastrophe risk underwriting. As having a cat treaty reinsurance writing arm in London is no longer deemed critical it seems, as business can likely be accessed just as easily from other locations around the world.

It also speaks to the Lloyd’s markets specialty leaning of course.

As technology becomes an increasing force in the placement and trading of property catastrophe risks, the need to be located in any one specific marketplace is reduced and that will also in-time level the playing-field more for those that do not have multiple global offices.