James River Group Holdings Ltd, the insurance holding company based in Bermuda, has reported net losses for the fourth-quarter and full year 2021.

James River owns and operates a group of specialty insurance and reinsurance companies, including casualty reinsurer JRG Reinsurance Company Ltd in Bermuda and excess and surplus lines and specialty admitted insurance companies in the United States.

The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $66.3 million, compared with a net loss of $20.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The net loss for the year was $172.8 million, compared with net income of $4.8 million in 2020.

James River reported gross written premiums of $407.3 million in the fourth quarter, which compares with $359.7 million of GWP in the prior year fourth quarter.

That included $72.5 million of GWP in the casualty reinsurance segment, an increase of 24.4 per cent from the prior year quarter primarily driven by higher renewal and new business and a change in renewal timing of one treaty, which was partially offset by the non-renewal of certain treaties, the company said.

James River said it expects to meaningfully reduce gross written premium in the casualty reinsurance segment over the course of 2022.

There was overall adverse reserve development of $115 million (representing a 60 percentage point increase to the company’s loss ratio), which was entirely related to the casualty reinsurance segment.

Frank D'Orazio, the company’s chief executive officer, said: “During the last five quarters since I joined James River as CEO, we have been keenly focused on profitably growing our E&S and fronting businesses while taking significant steps to strengthen our balance sheet and bring economic finality to our legacy run-off commercial auto portfolio and the majority of our historical casualty reinsurance reserves.

“With these significant reserving actions and legacy transactions behind us, and with the support of Gallatin Point fortifying our capital base, we believe we have unburdened the organisation’s earnings potential, which should allow it to produce attractive future returns for shareholders.

“This quarter our E&S segment reported an 82.1 per cent combined ratio while our specialty admitted unit grew fee income by 27.1 per cent while also delivering an 84.7 per cent combined ratio for the quarter, capping off a record year for underwriting profit for the segment.

“We believe our insurance franchises are well positioned to perform and continue to benefit from the industry’s macro tailwinds in 2022.”

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