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Hello Friends! Enjoyed seeing everyone at the Hartford Insurtech Symposium looking forward to more conferences coming up including Insurtech Insights in NYC May 26-27 and Dig-In in New Orleans Jun 8-9. This week in insurance we were following more than 3 things so we tried to pack into the usual buckets… there were more Q1 earnings to digest, an IPO and strategic review and Transverse announced a new venture fund. Here are the three things we learned: |
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Earnings Remain Mostly Strong There were many earnings reports to look over this week with a large number of established carriers and brokers reporting a strong Q1. Chubb continues to power along breaking all sorts of records with their Q1. W.R. Berkley grows underwriting profit and overall value to shareholders with a strong return on equity. Root continues to lose money but it’s cost-cutting measures are taking affect and the partnership with Carvana accounts for 13% of their new premium volume. In the broker / agent arena, AJ Gallagher has a strong quarter while Willis does not. The one that was most interesting is Goosehead who is starting to look like growing force in agency rollup / franchising. They are forecasting they will exceed $2B in written premium this year. |
[2] |
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Skyward Specialty IPO, Argo Begins Strategic Review It had appeared the trend to stay private and raise funds would be in place for 2022. Skyward Specialty announced a confidential submission for IPO. They have over $1B of premium and are growing. The timing could be good for public fundraising especially since the markets have cooled off and there is less competition. Argo has begun a strategic review. It has been rumored for some time that they would explore a sale or merger. There are plenty of carriers that are finding a way to make money in specialty and reinsurance that should be able to turnaround this operation. |
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Transverse Creates Venture Fund There is another insurer-backed venture fund open for investments. Transverse, a fronting carrier and program administrator, announced the closure of a fund. They will likely be targeting distribution opportunities that would benefit their core business including digital MGAs and brokers. The release was short on details such as how much money they will have so we will be watching to see what investments they make in the coming year. |
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