Competition for catastrophe insurance business rises, says Beazley

6th Nov 2014 14:51

Competition is growing for catastrophe insurance business as the number of major disasters wanes, Lloyd's of London insurer Beazley said as it reported a slight fall in premium rates.Beazley said competition was intensifying in large risk and catastrophe-exposed businesses such as re-insurance and marine, but it vowed to keep its underwriting discipline and avoid chasing business at any price."This is to be expected given the generally benign claims environment experienced in recent periods," the insurer said in a trading update.Beazley said premium rates on insurance renewals fell by 1%, but premiums remained stable at $1,546m against: $1,543m a year ago.It secured significant rate increases in its life, accident and health division following losses in 2013.The group's largest division, speciality lines, wrote $627m in the period, up 5% relative to the first nine months of 2013."This premium growth has helped to offset the competitive trading conditions some of our other teams have encountered," Beazley said.It added: "Overall, claims have developed favourably during 2014. Provided that claims continue to develop in line with our expectations for the remainder of the year, we are on target to deliver a strong result and a combined ratio in line with our long term average."Shares fell 0.1p or 0.04% to 263.9p at 15:08 in London.