NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A major property and casualty insurer has warned that customer rates are “unlikely to reduce in the near future” as limited reinsurance capacity has led to hikes in reinsurance costs impacting customer rates.
Alison Treco, Executive Chair of the BISX-listed Bahamas First Holdings Group told shareholders in the company’s quarterly report on unaudited financial statements for the 12 months ended December 2013: “The reinsurance capacity for property catastrophe insurance remains limited and the restricted capacity also comes with a cost as reinsurers are requiring premium increases. “As a result, the increase in reinsurance costs has had a significant impact on our customers’ rates and is unlikely to reduce in the near future.”
Bahamas First Holdings reported a comprehensive income of $6 million for 2023, down nearly 15 percent compared to the previous year.
Treco noted that the overall performance for the Group for 2023 was a comprehensive income of $6 million, which was 14.9 percent ($1 million) below the prior year. The Group’s profit for the year was $1.6 million, down 63.1 percent, from the prior year’s result of $4.4m. The profit for the property and casualty segments, for the year ended December 31, 2023, was $6.5 million, a 4.5 percent increase from the prior year.
“Unfortunately, the Group’s result was impacted by the ongoing issues with the health segment, which incurred a loss in 2023 of $4.9 million compared to a loss in 2022 of $1.8 million,” Treco noted.
“For the three months ended December 31, 2023, the Group reported a total comprehensive income of $6.8 million which was 11.4 percent ($0.9m) below Q4 2022. The Group’s profit for Q4 was $3.3 million, which was 34.1 percent lower than the prior year despite higher insurance revenue which was offset by higher operating expenses. Prior year profit was also aided by revaluation gains on building revaluation of $0.8 million within investment and other income. As in the previous year, but with even greater emphasis under IFRS 17, the seasonal nature of earning premium and commission is significantly weighted to the fourth quarter, resulting in a higher profit in Q4 than the total profit for the year,” Treco noted.
