Premiums up 11% at Catlin Group in first nine months of year

Catlin Group Ltd. released Thursday its interim management statement for the nine months ending Sept. 30, reporting an 11% increase, over the first nine months of 2013, in gross premiums written, with a 19% increase in property premiums.

Hamilton, Bermuda-based Catlin Group “incurred claims from two catastrophe events during the third quarter: Hurricane Odile, which struck the Baja California peninsula of Mexico in September, and the flooding in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India in September,” the company stated.

“Three large single-risk losses were sustained during the quarter: the loss of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July, the aircraft losses caused by fighting at the Tripoli airport in July and a fire at a U.S. sawmill in July.”

In the current quarter, there has been one catastrophe event to date, Catlin reported. That catastrophe was Cyclone Hudhud, “which caused damage to eastern India and Nepal in October.”

For the nine months ending Sept. 30, Catlin Group reported gross written premiums of $4.89 billion, up 11% from $4.417 billion in 2013. All figures are in United States dollars.

Catlin Group writes both primary insurance and reinsurance. Its operations include London-based Catlin Syndicate 2003, a Lloyd’s syndicate. Catlin Canada underwrites insurance and reinsurance, for Canadian clients, on behalf of Syndicate 2003. Catlin Canada has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary. It offers coverage for aviation, construction and engineering, property, liability, energy and reinsurance.

Catlin Group broke down its worldwide results by London, U.S., Bermuda and International (which includes Europe, Asia-Pacific and Canada). Catlin reported gross written premiums, for the first nine months in international, was $1.032 billion this year.

Of the $4.89 billion in gross written premiums worldwide, $1.918 billion was in reinsurance (up 11% from the same period in 2013), $1.001 billion was in casualty (up 9% from 2013), $758 million was in energy and marine (up 13% from the same period in 2013), $573 million was in property (up 19% from the same period in 2013), $399 million was in specialty/war and political risk (up 7% from the same period in 2013) and $244 million was in aerospace (up slightly from $243 million during the first nine months of 2013).