Lloyd’s
lloyds.com
Annual Report 2004;

Market Commentary

2004 The Big Picture

For the industry, 2004’s natural catastrophes were a reminder of our exposure to loss. Under such circumstances Lloyd’s performance was exceptional.

 

Casualty

Improved underwriting conditions, but long tail liabilities continue to cast a shadow over profitability.

 

Property

A good attritional loss record and strong pricing, but the US hurricanes made a major impact.

 

Reinsurance

Another strong year, despite the impact of the Florida hurricanes, and the continuing need to guard against concentration of risk.

 

Motor

With supermarkets and others pursuing the high volume business, Lloyd’s underwriters continued to carve out a more specialist niche.

 

Marine

Pricing improvements continued, but with increasing competition from overseas markets.

 

Energy

Despite unprecedented losses and increased pricing pressure, Lloyd’s energy book delivered an excellent result.

 

Aviation

The best loss record since 1945 led to downward pressure on prices, but Lloyd’s expertise continued to pay.

2004 overall combined ratio

Accident year 91.7%
Prior year reserve movement 5.2%
Calendar year 96.9%

 

* The combined ratio for the market and by class of business is the ratio of net incurred claims and net operating expenses to net earned premiums.

 

The 2004 overall combined ratio for the market includes central adjustments in the technical account in respect of certain transactions of the Lloyd's Central Fund and the Corporation of Lloyd's as described in note 1C in the Pro–forma annual accounting statement which can be found in the Market results pdf (54kb). The combined ratios for the individual classes of business do not include such adjustments because the market commentary for each class reflects trading conditions at syndicate level.