Argus/BF&M merger seeks greater scale – The Royal Gazette

Created: Oct 01, 2024 05:00 PM

Abigail Clifford, BF&M group president and CEO is pictured here with Anthony Joaquin, group chairman (Photograph supplied)

Domestic insurer BF&M has had a little more to say about its plans for the amalgamation agreement with their once-rival Argus Group, a transaction which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024.

In a six month report to shareholders, the company said their future with Argus includes plans for “a multi-line insurer with an enhanced portfolio of businesses across key geographies, greater scale to help mitigate rapidly rising costs, and the ability to invest in enhanced digital offerings – in addition to a higher quality earnings profile and strong capitalisation”.

The joint statement from Anthony Joaquin, the group chairman and Abigail Clifford, group president and CEO, said: “Our future with Argus is built on our shared heritage as Bermudian businesses and commitment to developing innovative solutions that improve the quality of life for our island and ensure expansive access to care.”

The report said: “The past few years have been difficult for our industry, and we have been transparent about the challenges we are facing – including the impacts of rising reinsurance costs and diminishing reinsurance capacity, as well as soaring healthcare costs and increased utilisation.

“Against this backdrop, our focus continues to be on enhancing our financial resilience through prudent risk selection and rate action. We are committed to ensuring adequate compensation for every risk that we write.”

BF&M had previously released its consolidated net income for the six months of $7.5 million.

Ms Clifford said at the time that despite ongoing macroeconomic headwinds, the company was pleased with the first half year performance.

She said: “Our core investment income was strong, continuing to benefit from higher-for-longer interest rates and a robust stock and bond market environment.

“Our pension business also performed well in this buoyant investment climate, delivering excellent results.

“On the insurance side, we observed slight improvements in our group health and group life results as we navigate an extremely challenging environment alongside our customers.

“Earlier this year in P&C, we proactively de-risked certain elements of our property portfolio, which, as anticipated, led to a short-term impact on our underwriting results.”

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