Hiscox Ltd. is an Anglo-Bermudan insurance provider, listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. An

underwriter Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

, the company largely specialises in niche areas of the market, offering

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

and

casualty insurance Casualty insurance is a defined term which broadly encompasses insurance not directly concerned with life insurance, health insurance, or property insurance. Casualty insurance is mainly liability coverage of an individual or organization for n ...

aimed at companies and

high-net-worth individual In the financial services industry, a high-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a person who maintains liquid assets at or above a certain threshold. Typically the criterion is that the person's financial assets (excluding their primary residence) are ...

s, as well as cover against such risks as hacking,

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

and

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

damage. The company is listed on the

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on ...

History

The roots of the company lie with the Roberts agency, which commenced

underwriting Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...

marine insurance Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance a sub-branch of mari ...

at the Lloyd's market in 1901. In 1946 Ralph Hiscox, who had joined the agency as an underwriter of non-marine insurance eight years earlier, formed the Roberts & Hiscox partnership for the purposes of managing

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French word ''syndic ...

s at Lloyd's. Hiscox was elected chairman of Lloyd's in 1967, the same year his son Robert joined the group's Syndicate 33 as an underwriter of fine art and personal accident insurance. Robert Hiscox subsequently took over as head of the partnership in 1970 after the death of his father, and set about growing the size of the business. In 1987 the firm reorganised – a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, Hiscox Holdings Ltd, was established for the group, which comprised the

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

Hiscox Syndicates (for managing syndicates) and Roberts & Hiscox (for introducing and advising members of the Lloyd's market). Expansion beyond the London market followed in 1989 with the formation of a third subsidiary, Hiscox Underwriting, specifically for this purpose. Roberts & Hiscox and related interests were demerged in 1994, leaving the company as merely an underwriter and manager of syndicates. Having previously listed on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market, Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in opera ...

, Hiscox plc transferred to the main market of the

in July 1997. Following the purchase of a 28% stake in the company by Chubb Corporation in 1998, the company fought to remain independent, successfully rebuffing two takeover offers by 2001. Chubb subsequently sold off its interest in Hiscox in 2004. In 2005, the company opened a

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

office, writing a mix of worldwide

reinsurance Reinsurance is insurance that an insurance company purchases from another insurance company to insulate itself (at least in part) from the risk of a major claims event. With reinsurance, the company passes on ("cedes") some part of its own insu ...

and retail business. The following year Hiscox plc moved its country of domicile from the United Kingdom to Bermuda, adopting the new name Hiscox Ltd. For 2009, the company increased its marketing budget from £400,000 to £10 million and launched a mass media campaign with the strap line "as good as our word". In March 2014 Hiscox acquired direct-to-consumer online operation DirectAsia and in October 2014 Hiscox USA launched a new brand platform "Encourage Courage". In 2020, Hiscox forecast its Covid-19 claims would reach $387m net of reinsurance. In January 2021 it added a further $48 million to its estimate for COVID-19 losses. This followed the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of Hiscox customers who had challenged the company’s decision to exclude coronavirus-related disruptions from its business interruption policies. One of the judges, Lord Briggs said, commenting on the insurers' argument, "The cover apparently provided for business interruption caused by the effects of a national pandemic type of notifiable disease was in reality illusory, just when it might have been supposed to have been most needed by policyholders." "That outcome seemed to me to be clearly contrary to the spirit and intent of the relevant provisions of the policies in issue." In August 2020 Hiscox’s Ben Walter maintained that its reputation was unaffected by its handling of business interruption claims from UK small businesses, but Chief Executive Bronek Masojada said in Hiscox’s 2020 preliminary results “Hiscox has undoubtedly suffered some brand damage this year.”. Fast forward to 2023 and the annual report said “The UK broker commercial business continued to enjoy excellent retention, illustrating the underlying quality of the business and the loyalty of our customers. However, new business growth was below Management expectation, particularly in the fourth quarter. This was primarily due to a delay in the activation of several broker distribution deals signed in the latter part of the year.” Extinction Rebellion and other environmental campaign groups targeted Hiscox in March 2024.

Products

The company sells both personal and commercial insurance cover in a range of areas: for individuals, Hiscox provides

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

and

contents insurance Contents insurance is insurance that pays for damage to, theft, or loss of, an individual’s personal possessions at home. Some insurance policies also cover items taken out of the home on holiday. In this context, "possessions" means anyth ...

for "higher value" houses, as well as

classic car A classic car is typically described as an automobile 25 years or older, although a car's age is not the only requirement it must meet before being considered a "classic." However, a standard criteria for recognizing cars as classics does not ex ...

, fine art, bloodstock, kidnap and ransom and personal accident cover. For companies, cover types include property, marine,

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

, professional indemnity,

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bug (computing), bugs or exp ...

, product recall and political risk insurance as well as

References

External links

Official corporate website
{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1901 Insurance companies of Bermuda 1901 establishments in England Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies in the FTSE 100 Index