Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:KNSL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

And we’re battling and competing with probably 75 other risk-bearing entities — and I don’t even know how many MGAs, it’s tons. So, it’s kind of a — I see it as a bit of a balanced market. Property is a little bit of an exception just because of some of the cat losses in the last several years, the reduction in reinsurance capacity. That’s definitely a hard market. But all of our casualty lines, in general, we feel very good about; positive rate changes, good top-line growth, phenomenal levels of profitability, even in this inflationary environment. So, I think that kind of sums up our view.

Pablo Singzon: Got it. And then, just a couple more questions on underwriting here. The first one is, just given your comment on the spread between pricing over loss trends, do you see — would it be reasonable to assume some level of continuous improvement in your (ph) loss ratio next year, but maybe not as much as in previous years. Is that a fair way to think about it?

Michael Kehoe: I would say, just given the level of inflation, the court systems are reopening from COVID. There’s still a lot of uncertainty out there. And so, I think that always causes us to be cautious in terms of establishing reserves for future claims and just being very conservative in that regard. You saw our favorable development dropped by a point or so. Again, you’re just seeing some of the conservative approach to building the balance sheet. So, I don’t think we’re really forecasting where that loss ratio to go. You have to balance, I think, the prices we charge with expectations for inflation and loss development.

Pablo Singzon: Okay. And the comments made on cost control in the press release, you probably run — don’t run the business this way, but I guess is there some effort to make sure that revenue growth always outstrips expense growth? Or like how are you sort of thinking about that aspect of the business? And I asked because you did mention that it was one of — you did mention it in the commentary in the press release.

Bryan Petrucelli: Well, Pablo, I think if you look at the way that our cost breakdown, so — say, on average, a 20% expense ratio on average, 12% or so relates to commissions and the other 8% relates to other operating expenses. And of that 8% and the other operating expense bucket, the vast majority of that relates to human capital costs. So, as we’re monitoring sort of the movement of the business, we’re hiring along the way to manage that growth. And as we see — if the market shifts and growth sort of goes in the other direction, I think we’re well-positioned to react pretty quickly on that.

Michael Kehoe: Yes. I would just add that, that expense advantage I think is a fundamental part of our business strategy. And so, it’s something we’re always working on not just maintaining, but looking for ways to improve on it, principally by driving more automation into our business process. That’s a slow, steady process that involves rolling out new technology, but that’s definitely an ongoing goal.

Pablo Singzon: Okay. And then the last one for me. You did mention growth and your expectations on (ph). But I guess my follow-up there would be, could you provide some sense of the guide post you’re thinking about when securing capital needs against growth, right? Recognizing that you have this — all these capital resource, your earning can actually support a decent amount of growth, right, if you sustain like 20% ROEs. But I suppose there is some premium level and whether you think about it in terms of percentage growth or absolute dollars where maybe you have to tap more capital. But any sort of like very broad and high-level guide post that one might think about from the outside when considering your capital needs vis-a-vis growth? Thank you.