Video: Axis CEO Speaks About Soft Markets
Albert Benchimol, CEO of Bermuda-based Axis Capital Holdings, recently spoke with A.M. BestTV, offering his thoughts on the current soft market and the positive trends that he sees as presenting opportunities not only for Axis, but for the sector at large.
Mr. Benchimol said, “Well, this is not the first soft market we’ve had, and unfortunately it won’t be the last, either.
“I think as you look back to prior soft markets, the attributes of successful companies really hasn’t changed. It’s really about having a great balance sheet, strong capital and ratings, having a disciplined underwriting platform, a broad range of products, and the ability to continue to provide value to your clients.
“Companies that have done that in the past have been able to navigate through the soft market very well and take advantage of the good market opportunities that inevitably follow a soft market, which is why we tend to measure success not across months or quarters, but really across a full cycle.”
“There are number of opportunities for growth,” continued Mr. Benchimol.
“I know certainly that, not withstanding the fact that over the last three years we’ve seen some very good price improvements in many lines of business and that has slowed down, and in fact there are some lines of business that have seen some reductions in prices, we still have a significant number of lines of business that we write that still demonstrate pricing increases, and so certainly we would want to pursue those.
“In some lines of business, we still have quite adequate margin; and although nobody likes to give up some margin, there are still some opportunities to grow in those lines of business.
“But we also have specific initiatives that we’ve identified over the last little while that we continue to progress. The one that is very often associated with Axis is our Accident and Health initiative; that was started three years ago.
“We’re now very close to $300 million in production; that team is now delivering positive contribution and we continue to be very optimistic about the growth of opportunities for Accident and Health Axis.”
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