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# Hiscox says cycle management cut London Market growth by nine points
- URL: https://thecoverwire.com/hiscox-cycle-management-cuts-london-market-growth-nine-points/
- Published: 2026-11-03T09:53:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T09:53:16.000Z
- Description: Underlying London Market growth slowed to 3.9% in nine months, from 5.3% at the half-year, as group written premiums rose 9.5% to $4.44bn.
- Author: CoverWire
- Tags: London Market, #desk-london-market

Hiscox said that walking away from underpriced business in major property, upstream energy and power and renewables reduced its London Market premium growth by nine percentage points in the first nine months of 2026, in a [trading statement](https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/hiscox-limited-di---hsx/q3-2026-trading-statement/9854485?ref=thecoverwire.com) published on 3 November.

London Market insurance contract written premiums rose 9.9% to $1,050.5m. Excluding prior-period premium adjustments, Hiscox said underlying growth slowed to 3.9%. At the [half-year](https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/hiscox-limited-di---hsx/hiscox-ltd-interim-results/9704864?ref=thecoverwire.com), underlying growth was 5.3%. Prior-period premium adjustments, mainly from property binders, added 4.5 percentage points to reported growth of 9.8%. Hiscox said the cycle-management actions were more than offset by adjacent classes entered in recent periods, the build-out of Hiscox Portfolio Solutions and selective expansion.

London Market rates fell 5% in aggregate over the nine months, the same as at the half-year, though Hiscox said they remain 59% above 2018 levels. In casualty, it said it is writing new business in technology errors and omissions and in financial institutions.

Hiscox said Hiscox Re rates declined 14% over the nine months and remained 55% above 2018 levels. It had reported a 16% decline for the first half. Gross insurance contract written premiums rose 4.5% to $1,133.4m, but net insurance contract written premiums fell 7.5% to $486.1m. Hiscox said retro exposure was 36% below peak hard-market levels and its insurance-linked securities assets under management reached a record $3.1bn at 1 October, from $2.9bn at 1 July.

"We are walking away from underpriced business while maintaining our position where economics are favourable and expanding into new specialty markets where conditions are attractive," said Aki Hussain, chief executive.

Retail grew faster than at the half-year. Retail insurance contract written premiums rose 9.1% at constant currency to $2,253.3m, against 8.2% in the first half, with rates up 1%. Hiscox UK grew 11.1% at constant currency to $811.1m. Hiscox said an AI-augmented submission-to-quote tool in its US broker business had improved speed to quote by around 75% in terrorism and architects and engineers, and that it was developing a new pricing engine in the UK.

Group insurance contract written premiums rose 9.5% to $4,437.2m. Hiscox said benign natural catastrophe loss experience in the third quarter more than offset marine losses from the Middle East conflict. Its investment result fell to $104.2m from $350.8m a year earlier, including $192.2m of unrealised bond losses that it expects to unwind as the bonds mature. It said it remained on track for 9% constant currency Retail growth for the year.

Related coverage: [Anthropic warns insurers may lack capacity for a catastrophic AI loss](https://thecoverwire.com/anthropic-s1-insurers-lack-capacity-catastrophic-ai-loss/) and [Chubb combined ratio rises to 84.1% on $705m of catastrophe losses](https://thecoverwire.com/chubb-q3-2026-combined-ratio-cat-losses-london-competition/).

## Sources

- [Hiscox Ltd: Q3 2026 Trading Statement (3 November 2026)](https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/hiscox-limited-di---hsx/q3-2026-trading-statement/9854485?ref=thecoverwire.com)
- [Hiscox Ltd: Interim Results (5 August 2026)](https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/hiscox-limited-di---hsx/hiscox-ltd-interim-results/9704864?ref=thecoverwire.com)