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Our ambition is to be a respected specialist insurer valued by our customers, business partners and shareholders, with a diverse portfolio by product and geography.
- To use our underwriting expertise in Bermuda and London to write larger premium, volatile or complex risks;
- To build distribution for our specialist retail products; to protect and nurture our distinctive culture and ethos by recruiting the best people, and by focusing on organic growth.
- Our success is due to this long-held strategy. It provides opportunity throughout the insurance cycle, allowing us to deliver in the short, medium and long term.
A track record of profitable growth
Over the last five years the Hiscox Group has:
- increased gross written premiums by 53.4% to £2.40bn
- delivered average combined ratio of 84.4%
- posted average return on equity of 18.5%
- achieved compound dividend growth of 11.2%
- returned capital to shareholders of £881m
A resilient business
Strong underwriting discipline, a diversified strategy and sound capital management lead to a lower risk profile for the Group.
We always underwrite for profit, not for market share, and we actively manage our business mix according to the conditions in each sector.
The Hiscox businesses maintain strong and stable credit ratings: A by A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s and A+ by Fitch. The Group has an increasingly diversified capital base and is in a strong position to take advantage of future growth opportunities.
Unique culture and strong brand
The excellence of our people has been a crucial factor in our continuing success. Their expertise, courage and dedication continue to drive our reputation for quality and professionalism. In return we strive to provide them with a working environment in which they can flourish. In our annual global employee engagement survey we looked at how connected employees feel to Hiscox, their managers, their teams and their role. Hiscox enjoys very high employee engagement, which averages in the top quartile of over 200 companies worldwide. Of our employees, 89% said they are proud to work for us, while 94% said they believed in our corporate values.
We are market leaders in many of the sectors in which we operate, while our commitment to provide clients with quick responses, clear coverage and superb service is at the heart of everything we do. We have invested significantly in creating a powerful, differentiated brand that reflects our values and customer service ethos, with which our target clients identify. For example, our brand awareness in the US has doubled in the last year, the result of a long-term campaign highlighting the courage of small businesses.
Specialist expertise that is valued by our customers
We are market leaders in many of the risks we underwrite and our customers value the expertise and innovative cover we provide*.
- In France, 98% of small business customers are satisfied with our services.
- In the USA, Hiscox small business customers rated us 4.8 out of 5 for customer service.
- In the UK, 96% of Hiscox Home Insurance customers who have made a claim would recommend us.
- Our broker partners value our claims expertise, rating Hiscox number one in the Gracechurch London
- Claims Report for overall service quality
In 2016 we received a number of industry accolades across the Group, including:
- Hiscox London Market won Insurance Team of the Year and Marketing Team of the Year at the Insurance Day awards, Best Product Innovation at The Lloyd’s Market Innovation Awards for the FloodPlus product and Kieran Giddons was announced as the Insurance Insider Honours Young Claims Professional of the Year;
- Hiscox Re and ILS won Underwriting Team of the Year at the Insurance Day London Market Awards;
- Hiscox UK and Ireland received the Consumer Intelligence 2016 Best Claims Award and won Underwriting Team of the Year, Cyber/Technology Risks Team of the Year and Professional Indemnity and Directors’ & Officers’ Team of the Year at the Underwriting Service Awards;
- Hiscox USA was recognised in the Top 100 Small Business Influencer Awards;
- DirectAsia Singapore won Best Online Buying Experience at the TripZilla Excellence Awards.
Hiscox is a uniquely balanced insurer with a clear vision for the future.