Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RYAN) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Robert Cox: Got it. And maybe just another question on the state of California, which I think is nearly 15% of the E&S market based on data that we look at. I think it’s been a net drag on overall E&S industry premium since November of last year. But we’ve seen it tick up positively in the double digits in the last 2 months, which I suspect might be driven by personal lines and property. So I’m wondering if you see growth in California in the back half of the year and how well positioned Ryan is to potentially take advantage of some of those tailwinds, if they’re there.

Timothy Turner: We’re very well positioned in the state of California. We have multiple offices, 2 of our last large brokerage acquisitions are in the state of California. We’ve strengthened ourselves there, deep benches in property and casualty and binding. We’re building and finishing up a high-net-worth personal lines facility to complement what we’ve already been doing in personal lines. So we’re there to capture that business and to deliver for our clients across California and the West Coast.

Robert Cox: That’s great. And maybe if I could sneak in 1 more on cyber. Tim, I think — I noted you had recently stated that the cyber market is getting skittish again, but I think there’s still pricing declines in that market. So I guess my question is, are you growing in that market? And do you expect growth to pick up or slowdown in the back half of the year?

Timothy Turner: Well, there’s no question there’s rate deceleration and the flow has slowed a bit. But we’re still capitalizing on it. It’s still a very great opportunity for us. We’re well positioned in binding authorities, MGUs which Miles Wuller can talk about a little further. But our cyber team is #1 in the country, and they’re performing at a very high level. Our clients still need us. Miles?

Miles Wuller: Yes, I’ll chime in that. So we have noted deceleration Cyber previously, and there has been modest negative change, most observable on the excess layers. But please keep in mind this was relative to market, particularly us achieving 85% rate increase in the first half of last year. So investments by corporate risk managers that curb losses, substantial price hikes that helped rate adequacy. It has brought some new capital space. But however, despite the shift in pricing, the overall opportunity remains immense, the cyber threats persist and where the industry is still anticipating, structural growth is averaging 20% per annum for the foreseeable future. So we’re well positioned with people and product to capitalize on that.

Operator: [Operator Instructions]. The next question we have is from Meyer Shields of KBW.

Meyer Shields: I want to follow up on cyber if I can. Is there any seasonality analogous to what we’re seeing in property where cyber is a bigger factor in a particular quarter?

Miles Wuller: There is not material seasonality to Cyber.

Meyer Shields: Okay. Perfect. And second question, I think this is probably for Jeremiah. Very significant pickup in fiduciary assets going from the end of the first quarter to the end of the second quarter. Is the seasonality that we’ve seen historically still a good proxy for how fiduciary funds will come and go?

Jeremiah Bickham: When you say recently, are you talking about first half of this year or since you’ve been following us? I just want to make sure I understand the question.

Meyer Shields: I mean first half this year, in other words. We saw a pretty big increase going from the first quarter to second quarter last year and also this year. And just wondering whether that the ebbs and flows should be roughly the same every year.