Lloyd's of London 2023 underwriting profit doubles

LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyd's of London's underwriting profit jumped 127% in 2023 to 5.9 billion pounds ($7.52 billion), it said on Thursday, as commercial insurers have cut back on riskier business and raised premiums.

Gross written premiums rose by 11.6% to 52.1 billion pounds across the commercial insurance market, which has more than 50 member firms, Lloyd's said in an unscheduled trading update ahead of full results on March 28.

"We continued to see sustainable, profitable growth and performance," Lloyd's Chief Financial Officer Burkhard Keese said in the statement.

"We will maintain our focus on underwriting and capital discipline."

Premium growth consisted of 4% organic growth and 7% from price increases, Lloyd's said.

Commercial insurers have grappled with a pandemic, wars, inflation and rising losses from natural catastrophes by excluding some business and raising prices.

Lloyd's insurers Beazley and Hiscox, two of the biggest players in the market, reported record annual results this week.

Lloyd's posted an investment return of 5.3 billion pounds, helped by higher interest rates, compared with a loss of 3.1 billion in 2022.

($1 = 0.7845 pounds)

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Sinead Cruise and Jason Neely)

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