PRESS RELEASE
08 April 2025

Lloyd’s 2025 Insights Report highlights strong performance and investor appeal

 
London, 08 April 2025: Insurance Capital Markets Research (ICMR) and the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) have released their 2nd annual report, the Lloyd’s 2025 Insights Report, providing a detailed analysis of Lloyd’s and syndicates’ 31/12/2024 year-end results.

The report reveals that Lloyd’s continues to deliver highly favourable returns to investors, with profits just shy of the previous year's record, driven by favourable trading conditions and a return to more normal investment valuations. Despite major claims activity in 2024, including two US hurricanes, almost all individual syndicates reported an underwriting profit.

Key findings from the report include:

  • Lloyd’s reported £55,546m of gross written premium and a pre-tax profit of £9,626m for the 2024 financial year and so continues to offer an attractive return on capital to investors with low correlation compared with other asset classes.
  • Major claims at 7.8% for 2024, while higher than 2023, remained below the long-term average of closer to 10%.
  • The expense ratio remained unchanged at 34.4% compared with 2023 and the report explores the influence of distribution channel on acquisition expenses and combined ratio.
  • The positive impact of performance management at Lloyd’s is evident in the long-term underwriting results since its introduction in 2003.
  • The RISX equity index, a benchmark for the global specialty (re)insurance sector with underwriting subsidiaries at Lloyd’s, shows accelerating investor expectations of positive returns from underwriting.

The report offers a deeper understanding of the drivers and trends underlying Lloyd’s performance for managing and members’ agencies, brokers and investors. It highlights that Lloyd’s is still seen as an attractive place to invest, with increasing capital markets’ confidence.

Paul Davenport, Finance & Risk Director at the LMA, said: “At an individual syndicate level, almost all syndicates have made an underwriting profit in 2024, despite the market being tested by some major claims events which were absent in 2023. While closer to average, 2024 major claims still fell below long-term levels. Given the extra costs and capital loadings applied to start-up syndicates, the analysis shows that the post-COVID window was clearly a good time to commence underwriting in Lloyd’s.”

Markus Gesmann, Co-Founder of ICMR, added: “The Lloyd’s market had another profitable year, outperforming peers and many other asset classes, yet a key issue remains of capital deployment. To improve efficiency and leverage strong returns, innovative models like 'barbell' strategies, initially deploying liquid funds in the sector before scaling up Funds at Lloyd's when needed, can be used to satisfy investors’ and asset managers’ deployment requirements.”

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors

ICMR:

LMA:

 

Media relations contacts

LMA:
Carole Porter, Head of Marketing and Communications | +44 20 3307 3947 | Email: carole.porter@lmalloyds.com

Omnia Partners:
Victoria Sisson, Director | +44 794 129 4872 | Email: victoria.sisson@weareomniapartners.com

About the LMA

The Lloyd's Market Association (LMA) exists at the very heart of Lloyd’s, a world-leading global marketplace for complex risk where solutions to challenges are delivered every day. All 55 Lloyd’s managing agencies, with a total market stamp capacity of approximately £56bn in 2025, and all Lloyd’s members’ agents, are members of the LMA.

We represent our members’ interests to organisations including governments, regulators, and the market’s central supporting body, the Corporation of Lloyd’s. We provide professional and technical expertise in areas ranging from model policy wordings to the implementation of innovative technologies.

We connect with our members to identify and resolve issues facing the market, and work in partnership with Lloyd’s and the other market associations to influence initiatives and outcomes. We operate the market’s most comprehensive technical education service, the LMA Academy.

About ICMR

Insurance Capital Markets Research (ICMR) is a quantitative research firm dedicated to delivering innovative solutions for the complex challenges facing the global specialty (re)insurance industry. Our expertise lies in transforming data into actionable insights.

We collate and manage industry performance data sets and specialise in providing in-depth analysis and prospective modelling of Lloyd’s syndicate portfolios.

Our portfolio valuation services are used by fund investors to track monthly earned returns on their portfolios of Lloyd’s participations and our real-time price to book valuation models give insight into enterprise value creation.

Our founders were Lloyd’s former heads of research and analysis who also worked together in the capital markets and insurance-linked securities. ICMR was established in early 2020 and launched the RISX equity index in 2021. We are an associate member of the Lloyd’s Market Association.