Gibraltar insurer Elite confirms Solvency II SCR compliance


Master Elite Insurance Logo_(green)Gibraltar based Elite Insurance Company Limited confirms that it is meeting and exceeding its SCR.

“Elite’s SCR requirements under Solvency II were being met prior to the 1 January 2016 deadline and the SCR position at our March 2015 year end showed a strong surplus, which had improved over the previous year. This is expected to continue to improve” Jason Smart,chief executive of Elite commented.

At 31 March 2015 (Elite’s last financial year end), the company posted a technical profit of £6.7m based on an increased total gross written premium of £160.4m – up 28% on the previous year. The company had net assets of £37.6m.

The company is working closely with leading actuarial consultancy Mazars LLP and is undergoing regular reserve reviews to ensure reserves and solvency are where they need to be.

The company is licensed to underwrite 12 general insurance business classes and is authorised in 13 EU/EEA States having established branches in 4 of these.

Elite has prepared well for the introduction of Solvency II by strengthening its executive management team in Gibraltar; restructuring its governance and internal operating frameworks, identifying and removing under-performing or commercially non-viable business; and utilising effective and efficient reinsurance programmes with low retentions.

Jason Smart comments: “We benefit from writing a diverse range of products across a number of classes and territories. Our business is not over reliant or exposed on any one product or class or in any one territory and our reinsurance is placed with quality reinsurer partners”.

He adds “Our decision to withdraw from UK motor last year and our recent announcement on Solicitors PII shows we will not shy away from making tough decisions if we believe these will help to maintain our strong solvency position. It’s important to know when to enter a market – but more so when to exit”.

The company is focusing on developing and writing its own ‘capital-lite’ products and will continue to seek to increase revenue but not at the expense of reducing a healthy margin over its SCR.

He concluded by saying “We have worked hard to ensure Solvency II compliance and we will continue to build on this with improved data and MI and by making level headed, rational, informed business decisions to ensure we maintain a healthy surplus over SCR”.

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