In the January 2016 renewals Peak Re almost doubled its European premium income, as compared to the prior year. Furthermore, we broadened our presence by adding the Netherlands and Italy to the countries in our book. As of this year, Peak Re has clients in twelve European countries. By the end of 2015, Europe represented 12% of our premium income – a share which is expected to rise further during the course of 2016.
Our European portfolio very much mirrors the lines of business which we are writing in Asia: Motor and property account for almost 80% of the portfolio. The remainder is fairly evenly split between engineering, marine and casualty, with some additional business in agriculture and credit & surety.
In terms of premium, Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark and Sweden) dominates our portfolio with a share of roughly 40%. UK business has grown from almost nil to more than 13%. Portugal and Switzerland are both at about 10%, followed by France, Belgium and Spain. Strong premium growth and further geographic diversification within the region is aided by the opening of our Zurich office in autumn 2015. This reinforces Peak Re’s commitment to Europe as an important pillar of our global growth strategy. Even with our new office in Europe, Peak Re continues to operate as a single entity, applying the processes and logic which serve us well in Asia Pacific. We continue to ensure a seamless process between the three core functions of market underwriting, product underwriting and analytics.
Peak Re aims to form partnership with clients who share our focus on building long-term relationships. We are looking for cedants to whom the diversity offered by our unique capital and the distinct expertise we bring to the table add value. As a consequence, we tend to be more attractive as a counterparty to small-to-mid sized insurers, often mutuals, that appreciate our entrepreneurial approach, lean setup, flat structure and ability to offer relevant solutions.
We are convinced that given the current challenges facing our clients, we need to maintain a lean and efficient operational model to support them. This is imperative to achieve returns in today’s squeezed margin environment.
