General Insurance Article - Lloyd's into significant profit despite Sandy

 Lloyd’s has announced a profit of £2.77bn for 2012, marking a return to profit following last year’s loss of £516m, which was the costliest year on record for natural catastrophes.

 Speaking about the result, Lloyd’s ceo, Richard Ward said “The Lloyd’s market has posted a strong result. This is despite experiencing one of the costliest natural catastrophes in history, Superstorm Sandy, and incurring net claims of £10bn.

 Gross written premium reached a record high of £25.5bn, while total net incurred claims were £10.1bn, down from £12.9bn in 2011.

 Claims included $2.2bn (£1.35bn) from Superstorm Sandy which struck the Caribbean and North America in October 2012, becoming one of the largest claims in Lloyd’s 325 year history.

 Chairman of Lloyd’s, John Nelson, said: “In 2012 we launched Vision 2025-the market’s vision for profitable, sustainable growth, focusing on the opportunities that lie in the high growth economies around the world.

 These results, combined with our capital strength, are a good platform from which to work towards our vision of maintaining our position as the global centre for specialist insurance and reinsurance in 2025.”