RSA suffers hardest knock in five years in first down year for boss Stephen Hester

RSA chief executive Stephen Hester reported his first “down” year since taking over the insurer after wild weather and underwriting losses in the London market hurt profits.

The FTSE 100 firm, which offers home and car insurance through brands like More Th>n, posted its worst year since 2013.

It is taking action to dampen the volatility and will have a better 2019, it said.

Hester, who joined in 2014, said: “There’s no way you can eliminate volatility in insurance but we would like to have less of it. Many things are going well but this is our first down year in the last five and we intend it to be our last down year for some time to come.”

The business is scaling back its presence in the larger-ticket London market, which offers insurance for large corporate customers, exiting areas like international construction and international freight.

The size of the London market will halve from £300 million to £150 million. It made a colossal £109 million underwriting loss last year.

The Beast from the East last March and hot summer temperatures led to an unusually higher level of claims while Canada, RSA’s other large market, was also tricky.