Treaty business written by London company market rises 32% to £10.9bn for 2023: IUA

Treaty reinsurance written in the London company market rose to £10.889bn ($14.26bn) last year, according to the International Underwriting Association (IUA).

This was up from £8.248bn the previous year, and represents a tripling of the market’s size since 2010.

According to the IUA, treaty reinsurance now accounts for 25 percent of the total business written by IUA members. This is the highest proportion since the IUA began tracking the data in 2010.

Ahead of the publication of this year’s London company market statistics report later this month, the IUA revealed that direct and facultative business written by companies in London was £32.1bn in 2023, an increase of 9 percent on the previous year's £29.4bn.

The IUA's research also measures premium income written in overseas or regional UK offices, but subject to oversight and management by London company market operations.

In this 'controlled business' segment, direct and facultative placements also increased by 9 percent, rising from £4.455bn to £4.850bn.

However, treaties in this segment declined from £1.990bn in 2022 to £587mn in 2023.

Despite this, the overall London company market total for treaty business still saw an increase of more than £1.2bn, or 12 percent, growing from £10.238bn to £11.476bn in 2023.

“Strong growth has been a dominant feature of recent editions of the London company market statistics report, and the theme continues this year,” said Scott Farley, the IUA’s director of communications

“Many different classes of business continue to benefit from a strong pricing environment.

“Whilst indexation of premium due to increases in insured asset values is clearly important, companies are also reporting further selected growth where they have made significant underwriting investments,” he concluded.