‘Dogged’ RSA reverses profit hit as chief Hester gets better weather
RSA chief Stephen Hester on Thursday said “dogged and determined” action to bounce back from a slump in profits last year had put the insurer on a surer footing.
Exits from certain parts of the London insurance market and a management shake-up are slowly turning around Hester’s beleaguered ship after a bad 2018 when profits fell by a third.
UK profitability in the first quarter is ahead of target, driven mostly by the mild winter in the UK, and cutting back on lines of commercial insurance in the Lloyd’s market.
“When things don’t go as we want we are dogged and determined to take action to put things right and that action is mostly to do with the portfolio,” said Hester.
The former RBS chief moved RSA finance chief Scott Egan to run the UK and International division as part of the shake-up.
The good weather helped limit RSA’sexposure to large insurance losses, with no claim higher than around £7 million. That improved the large loss ratio to 8.5% from 9.7%.