Steamship Mutual issues financial update

Steamship Mutual has issued a financial update, following the Club’s board meeting, held in Manila on 30 January.

Highlights in the development of the Steamship Mutual group of companies include:

• The Club’s own incurred claims and the cost of International Group (IG) Pool claims for the 2023/24 policy year remain less than budgeted
• Claims development for prior years is also better than budget expectations
• The Club’s financial year-end combined ratio is expected to be less than 100%
• After 11 months the Club recorded an investment return of US$87 million
• Owned tonnage has increased by 6.6% in the 11 months to 20 January.

The announcement stated that after 10 months of the 2023/24 policy year, the Club’s own incurred claims were less than expected notwithstanding tonnage growth and inflationary pressures. The Club has not incurred any claims which have exceeded its US$10 million retention and gone into the IG Pool. Seven pool claims have been notified by other IG Clubs that exceed Club retention. Incurred costs in the pooling layers compare favourably to the average of recent policy years. It was also noted that the overall development of the Club’s own claims for prior years had been favourable, and the development of IG Pool claims had also been better than expected, notably for the 2022 policy year which remains at low levels in contrast to earlier years.

The Directors received a report on renewal progress, following the decision that there should be a general increase of 5% in premium ratings at the Board meeting in October 2023, and thanked the Members for their continued support.