Das LEI reports comprehensive £4.3m loss for 2021

This compares to an underwriting profit of £50,000 in 2020.

The document showed that on top of the underwriting loss the 2021 results were adversely impacted by the investment performance. Net of tax there were unrealised losses of £2.3m, compared to unrealised gains of £997,000 in 2020.

Total comprehensive losses were almost £4.3m compared to a £750,000 profit in 2020.

Breaking down the underwriting result in the LEI, assistance and miscellaneous financial loss areas of the business, the organisation reported the heaviest losses in the miscellaneous financial loss category – that saw a dent of £2.4m (2020: loss £2.2m).

LEI made a loss of £2000 (2020: profit £2.8m). Its assistance operation made a profit of £329,000 (2020: loss £496,000).

Growth

In the report Das stated: “Miscellaneous financial loss was in line with 2020 performance. The losses were largely offset by recoveries from the Ergo quota share. This reinsurance agreement mitigates future losses, creates a more stable profit and results in a stronger solvency position.”

Group CEO, Tony Coram, told Insurance Age: “The 2021 results showed strong growth as our business grew from £109m GWP to £123m which clearly shows that more and more customers and partners are putting their faith in Das.

“Regarding bottom line performance, we were adversely affected by £2.3m in investment write downs, as UK government bonds fell in value. This is because demand for UK gilts fell due to investor’ expectations that the Bank of England would raise interest rates in 2022 to counter inflation.”

Coram continued: “The statutory loss after tax for the financial year was £1.9m. This is primarily due to ATE losses in the Large Loss portfolio. This portfolio was put into run-off in 2019, which has now almost completed. There has also been some impact from Covid-19, particularly as many case times are taking longer to settle.”

Concluding: “I’m proud that we have largely weathered the storm of the pandemic and the underlying basis of the business is now stronger than ever as we look to continue to grow and improve our business performance.”

Recovery

The 2021 report also flagged a management restructure. When Coram replaced Andrew Burke as CEO in January 2022 his old role of chief customer officer was disbanded and replaced as follows:

• “a new director of claims role was introduced to oversee end to end claims operations, including the non-legal case aspects of the Das customer journey,
• “the reserved legal activities have been allocated to Brynley Case, an existing executive team member who has now taken on the role of director of legal services and oversees our legal practice areas of Das Law, and,
• “our technical claims function has moved under the remit of our director of client services.”

Also, subject to regulatory approval, David Swigciski, director of client services, is to be appointed to the Das UK Holdings and Das LEI Boards in 2022, to fill the vacancy arising following Burke’s departure.

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