Acappella Underwriting Syndicate 2014, managed by Pembroke Managing Agency, has exited its cargo book, re-Insurance.com reports.
Acappella was said to have exited the class, for which it had a maximum line of $20m, earlier this week. The cargo team is led by Huw Davies who joined the syndicate in September 2014 as divisional head to launch the cargo book. He had previously been at QBE. He is supported by assistant underwriter Jessica Fosh, who also joined the syndicate at the end of 2014.
Pembroke syndicate 2014 underwrites general insurance and reinsurance business with a capacity of £136.9m for 2017 (which subsequently increased to £150.0m for 2018). From May 1st 2017 Pembroke Managing Agency has been owned ultimately by Liberty Mutual Holding.
For 2017 GPW was £185.6m, up from £144.8m the previous year. The syndicate loss for the year was £21.11m, compared with a loss of £16.45m the previous year. The combined ratio was roughly constant at 117.1% (2016: 117.0%).
PMA said that “2017 was a challenging year for the Syndicate due to staff changes and a result heavily affected by the catastrophe losses in the US and the Caribbean. The catastrophe events of 2017 have led to some rate improvements but the extent of these is yet to be seen.”
It said in its report for 2017 that “the Syndicate now has a clear future direction, with the long term strategy being to build a portfolio that is balanced between insurance and reinsurance and also balanced between long tail and short tail; which will inevitably fluctuate according to the market cycle”.
Within Marine, the Syndicate underwrites Cargo, Marine Liability and War & Terrorism. Cargo lines of business include Stock, Stock Throughput, General Cargo, Consequential Loss and Cargo Liability. The majority of the Syndicate’s exposures are in Europe and North America, with business being accepted through a range of placement methods.
The Marine Liability line of business underwrites the sub-classes General Marine Liability, Energy Liability and Ports & Terminals. The geographical segmentation of exposures is diverse, with business placed with the Syndicate through a variety of methods.
The War & Terrorism line of business is underwritten on a worldwide basis, with the current focus being the development of the Political Violence sub-class.
GPW in marine in 2017 was £22.90m, up from £14.68m the previous year.
In the direct insurance MAT segment GPW was £7.29m, down from £7.48m the previous year. In 2017 the total loss was £3.08m, compared with a loss of £839,000 the previous year.
Acappella started life as Special Purpose Syndicate 6110 in 2012 and became a standalone syndicate in 2014. The carrier started out as a Pembroke-Willis Towers Watson joint venture. That joint venture arrangement was dissolved in February 2018.