Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Scott Heleniak : Yes. Okay. Yes. And then the — just my final question, too, is I was just curious on Aspera and your personal lines business. I guess we haven’t heard about it in a while. Just an update on what kind of growth that business is seeing and your appetite to expand that? And kind of where the profitability has been in the last few quarters?

Michael Kehoe : In reverse order, I would say the profitability this year has been quite positive. As you recall, we had a loss that was larger than expected in Hurricane Ian last year, and so we’ve been repositioning and basically derisking certain areas to make sure that when the wind does blow, the size of our loss is consistent with our expectations. So we’re kind of taking a step back. We’re also working on some technological changes to that business to allow for direct bill payment plans for the customers. And probably in the next several quarters, we would expect to pivot from reducing the premium volume to increasing it, getting a better geographic spread, et cetera. We’re committed to the personal line space, the homeowner space, we’re just kind of revamping that strategy as we speak.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Pablo Singzon with JPMorgan.

Pablo Singzon : First question is, I was wondering if you could talk through conditions in various segments of the E&S casualty market. So [indiscernible] has been singled out by many as a competitive product today, but I was wondering if you could talk through your own lines and maybe outside of Kinsale, like major pockets in E&S casualty where things are more or less competitive?

Michael Kehoe : Well, [indiscernible] is more competitive in management liability, products liability. I think in construction tends to be fairly competitive. That’s a long tail line where we’ve raised rates repeatedly in the last couple of years. So I think given our pricing strategy, we’re probably less competitive maybe, and we’re still growing that area. I think a nice clip, but it’s not dramatic. And then you touched on a number of areas where there’s very strong growth.

Brian Haney : Yes. Our Access Casualty is doing well. Our Entertainment, which is a relatively newer division, is doing well. Commercial Auto is a newer division, doing well, so.

Pablo Singzon : Okay. And then the second question was on the loss ratio, right? So [indiscernible] sales loss ratio, that’s been running close to 60%. I think most of that reflects your fix on casualty lines, right, which you said has been conservative. But as you grew in property, I was hoping to get perspective on how that loss ratio might change, right? Just given that property coverage tends to have lower loss ratios, and I think you mentioned that you guys write access which implies even lower loss ratio. So just trying to understand how the mix might change, let’s say, the run rate 60% that you’ve always had?

Michael Kehoe : Yes. It’s hard — Pablo, this is Mike. It’s hard to give you a number. We reserve all of our lines of business conservatively at the start. Long-tail lines, that IBNR position drifts down slowly over the years ahead as the claims get reported and resolved and negotiated, et cetera. Properties are shorter tail line of business, so that — the IBNR we put up there tends to come down fairly quickly, but I don’t think we can give you a specific number. I mean, we’re always adjusting IBNR numbers based on all sorts of things, including our experience inflation rate changes in the marketplace, et cetera.