I’m excited to share an update on what’s happening at Canopius USA – and our commitment to being a key player in the U.S. Ocean Marine market. This week, Canopius USA announced our latest agreement with shareholder, Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance (SFMI), to write business on its highly rated A++ admitted paper.
The U.S. Ocean Marine team benefits greatly from our partnership with SFMI, as we will now write all admitted business on SFMI’s strongest financially rated paper and will continue to write our non-admitted business through our Lloyd’s syndicate 4444. The ability to write business on both SFMI and Lloyd’s paper provides us the flexibility to craft innovative, custom solutions backed by the greatest financial strength and stability.
Never before has the marine market seen such a need for a strong partner to help manage risks. An increase in losses and risk exposures has forced many marine carriers to retract by offering more restrictive terms and conditions, pulling back capacity and pulling out of certain lines. Despite challenging market conditions, Canopius Group’s ability and desire to grow business in the US, and offer a new paper shows a unique and rare commitment to US marine. The trust the leadership has in our teams to grow profitably is empowering and energizing. We are smartly and strategically swimming against the tide.
Our strength, stability, and growth in the U.S. is not limited to the Ocean Marine group. This year, Lloyd’s approved a 6.4% stamp capacity of $2.2bn for Canopius Syndicate 4444 in a year when less than 9% of the Lloyd’s syndicates delivered 2021 business plans that passed key performance indicators and presented realistic gross written premium aspirations. This is great news for Canopius USA, considered a major growth area as the U.S. arm of global specialty (re)insurer Canopius Group. As a whole, Canopius USA is on track to nearly double its written premium for the second year in a row as well as double its team of exceptional underwriters and claims specialists throughout the United States.
On behalf of the Canopius USA Ocean Marine group, I am proud to share this good news with you and sincerely thank you for allowing us to serve as a trusted and stable partner to manage risks that are anything but stable. We are committed to our mutual success and look forward to deepening our relationship with you because we believe that together we’re better.
John Ellis
Head of US Ocean Marine