Hiscox today revealed a rise in the number of property insurance losses in the Lloyd’s market, including a $10 million (£7.6 million) claim on a luxury log cabin.
The Lloyd’s of London insurer said there was a higher number of losses on the book for the first quarter of the year, including damage to the cabin - located in Canada - and the impact of the California wild fires.
The fires, the worst on record, killed 98 people and led to $3.5 billion damage when they ripped through the US state last November.
Rates in the London market were up 4%, bouncing back from several years of sluggish growth because of a flood of capital chasing premiums and a lack of large claims.
Chief executive Bronek Masojada said he was “happy with what we achieved” during the period after gross written premiums rose 3.3% at constant curency to $1.2 billion. Growth in retail — Hiscox’s biggest market — was slower because of previously flagged-up IT problems in the UK unit. An IT upgrade last year was found to have slowed the speed at which Hiscox could issue quotes, forcing a second unscheduled overhaul of the system.
That slowed Hiscox UK retail growth to £137.3 million, which was down 3.2% at constant currencies.
“Occasionally in business you make a change and not all of them work and this one didn’t work. We made a mistake and we’re fixing it,” said Masojada.
Shares in the business fell 1p to 1638p.
