Hiscox UK grows ICWP in H1 2024

Hiscox UK’s insurance contract written premium (ICWP) increased in H1 2024 following growth in its commercial and private client arms.

In a trading update, which was published today (7 August 2024), Hiscox said its UK division secured $427.4m (£336.3m) in ICWP during the first half of the year, up 4.3% on a constant currency basis from the same period in 2023.

ICWP is a performance indicator similar to gross written premium (GWP) that is adjusted to account for insurance revenue.

Hiscox said the “underlying positive business momentum in the UK is broad based”.

“The UK commercial business is growing well and our art and private client business delivered low double-digit growth, benefiting from favourable market dynamics and the launch of the high-value household product on the eTrade platform,” the insurer said.

Other divisions

Meanwhile, Hiscox Retail, which comprises the insurer’s UK, Europe and US arms, saw an ICWP of $1.34bn (£1.05bn) in H1 2024, up from $1.26bn (£999m) from H1 2023, while the combined ratio (COR) improved from 89.3% to 88.8% year-on-year.

However, its London market division saw ICWP decrease by 2.8% year-on-year to $648.3m (£510m).

This was driven by the insurer’s decision to not renew certain large binder deals, its management of the underwriting cycle in casualty lines and a reduction in space premiums.

“There were fewer risks in the market and we took a decision to reduce line size due to heightened recent loss activity,” Hiscox said.

Group level

Across the Hiscox group, ICWP grew by 3.3% year-on-year to $2.81bn (£2.21bn), with it seeing sustained retail growth and additional capital deployed in big-ticket property.

Profit before tax also grew 7.1% to $283.5m (£222.7m).

Aki Hussain, group chief executive at Hiscox, said: “Our business has built on the momentum from 2023 and delivered strong profits and robust growth in the first half.

“We are focused on deploying capital to generate profitable growth and investing in underwriting and technology capabilities to build out our competitive advantages.”