By Ryan Hewlett

Feb 27 - (The Insurer) - Hiscox has ambitions to grow its London market business through 2025, according to CEO Aki Hussain, who said market conditions remain attractive despite rate moderation in certain lines.

Speaking to The Insurer on Thursday after the (re)insurer published consensus-beating full-year results, Hussain said Hiscox would look to deploy capital where it saw opportunity supported by adequate rate in the market – particularly in its London market division.

He described overall conditions in the market as “favourable” and said the carrier’s London market arm would look to grow its top line in areas including property and marine energy and construction.

“London market is a more nuanced play for us, because we write a diverse book of 17 lines and not all of them are in the favourable part of the insurance cycle,” he said.

“Quite a few of the larger lines that we write, property, some of the marine energy book, we think are well priced and we have market-leading capability and teams in those areas. We expect the overall London market business will grow in 2025.”

Hiscox London Market reported insurance contract written premiums of $1.23 billion in 2024, a decrease of 2.0% year on year. However, the carrier noted that the drag reduced in the fourth quarter as the business returned to growth, driven by attractive market opportunities in property and crisis management.

“The business had a strong fourth quarter and we expect it to grow in 2025 for we still see positive momentum and attractive market conditions in some of our core lines,” he said.

The CEO was speaking shortly after Hiscox disclosed a net loss from January’s California wildfires of around $170 million, based on an industry loss of $40 billion. Hiscox noted that the event is largely a reinsurance loss with $150 million expected to be recognised in Hiscox Re & ILS, and $10 million each at Hiscox London Market and Hiscox Retail.

Hussain said the “tragic” event represented a large loss for Hiscox but stressed that the quantum remained within its modelled range.

Commenting on the impact of the event on its reinsurance business, Hussain said Hiscox Re & ILS has benefited from “material” price correction over the last few years and continues to be paid “adequately” for the risk it is taking.

“Over the last few years, we've had low 60s combined ratios – that seems unlikely now for 2025 but we have a buffer there and we'll see how the rest of the year goes. We have a very strong balance sheet, and the market conditions remain positive for the rest of the year,” he said, adding that the unit grew on a net basis at 1.1.