IGI’s nascent E&S and European platforms primed for further growth

International General Insurance Holdings (IGI) expects its US and European businesses will continue their rapid build-outs in 2022 with the Bermuda-based (re)insurer looking to take advantage of current market dynamics, president Waleed Jabsheh has told The Insurer.

IGI posted its Q4 and 2021 results last week, with the company booking gross premiums written of $545.6mn for last year, up from $467.3mn in 2020.

Of that $545.6mn, some $30mn to $35mn came from its US excess and surplus lines operations, Jabsheh told this publication.

IGI launched its US E&S business in April 2020, with the platform focused on the energy, property, terrorism and contingency lines. By the middle of August of that year, Jabsheh told The Insurer the E&S business had written approximately $12.5mn of premium.

As the executive detailed, the platform continued to expand in 2021 and the expectation is it will continue on its current growth path in 2022.

“The US is definitely a growth area for us and we expect that to develop in the coming years and become a more prominent part of our overall portfolio,” Jabsheh said.

IGI’s E&S offering participates in the upstream, downstream, midstream, and power and renewables sectors, and when combined with the property, terrorism and contingency lines, Jabsheh said the company’s current $30mn to $35mn “isn’t even scratching the surface” of the opportunities that exist in the US market.

“In the US, we grew the book by 50 percent last year and now we stand at $30mn to $35mn, and I can see similar growth targets this year,” Jabsheh said.

Part of that expected growth will come from its property business, where Jabsheh said the company has “added more resource”.

“We’ve got that [property] team now in place and we expect this year to build that side of the portfolio,” he said.

Reflecting on the E&S growth achieved so far, Jabsheh said the build-out of the platform has been “step by step” and in line with the company’s prior launches in other areas.

“We do it cautiously and move at our own pace, and make sure we get off to a good start and build a healthy book and just keep building on that year after year,” he explained.

That approach has paid off, with IGI having avoided some of the significant losses the US property market has faced in recent years.

“You see a lot of companies enter a market like the US and their portfolios are just enormous right from the get-go. And that’s never been our style … and as a result we’ve built a controlled portfolio,” Jabsheh said.

“Thankfully we didn’t go in there with a huge splash because the cat activity has been quite penal to the market. Our exposure to those US events has been extremely manageable and ahead of expectations, so we’re in a strong position now to capitalise on the tailwinds in the market,” the executive added.

Malta operation to support European growth

While the US remains a source of growth, another region ripe for expansion is Europe, Jabsheh said.

IGI opened an operation in Malta last July, and hired Keith Mallia-Milanes from Mapfre to lead the platform.

The company had previously announced in March 2021 that it was setting up the new platform to access European markets. It had previously been able to write European business through its London-based operation, but following Brexit that was no longer possible.

As Jabsheh noted, the Malta platform has not been launched just so IGI can retain the European business it had previously written via the London unit, with the company instead looking to build out its footprint on the continent.

“The European markets are huge and there’s lots of business out there that will cater to our appetite, especially in today’s markets,” said Jabsheh.

“We wrote about $10mn on the platform last year, and this year we’re probably estimating around $25mn.”

IGI’s European business has historically been long-tail focused – professional indemnity, D&O and some financial institutions, along with a smaller amount of property and energy risks.

“In the short term, the opportunities will be more on the long-tail side,” Jabsheh said of the new Malta operation.

“But I think there will be opportunities following last year’s European floods to build a much healthier and adequately rated short-tail book.

“We’ll pounce on the opportunities wherever they may be, and in whatever segments, lines and countries. Wherever we see the healthiest returns coming, then we’ll capitalise on those opportunities,” he added.