LONDON (Bloomberg) — Lloyd's of London, the world's oldest insurance market, said full-year profit rose to a record in 2009 because North America and Europe were struck by fewer natural catastrophes than expected.

Profit before tax climbed to £3.87 billion ($5.8 billion) from £1.9 billion a year earlier, Lloyd's said in a statement yesterday. Investment returns were £1.8 billion, compared with £957 million in 2008, Lloyd's said.

"Good investment returns and a benign catastrophe environment" drove earnings, finance director Luke Savage said in a telephone interview. "If you look at the past five years and our consistently strong performance over that time, it is a sign that we've left behind the troubles of the past."

Lloyd's insurers such as Amlin Plc, Catlin Group Ltd. and Hiscox Ltd. have reported higher profit this year after a benign hurricane season in the North Atlantic. Hurricane Ike and Gustav cost the insurance industry $24 billion in 2008, according to Swiss Reinsurance Co.

Profit last year topped the previous record of £3.85 billion, set in 2007 after insurance rates rose following Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans in 2005. Lloyd's, which has made an annual loss only once since the World Trade Center terrorist attack in 2001, almost collapsed in the early 1990s as asbestos claims overwhelmed the market.

"Whilst 2009 was exceptional in terms of record results, it was just that, the exception," Savage said.

"In 2010 it's going to be very difficult to generate investment returns. Off the back of a benign 2009, we're seeing downward pressure in the rating environment."

Last month's 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile will be "entirely manageable" within the normal course of business, Savage said. Insured losses from the earthquake on February 27 may be as much as $8 billion, catastrophe forecaster Eqecat Inc. said earlier this month.