* Third quarter combined ratio 90% vs 93.6% end-2019
* Gross written premiums fall 3% year to date
* Investment income down
(Adds CEO comments)
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - England's second national lockdown
is unlikely to have much impact on insurer RSA as many
policies now have pandemic-related exclusions, its CEO said on
Thursday as it reported a rise in underwriting profit in the
first nine months.
England started a month-long lockdown on Thursday as UK
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to prevent COVID-19 running
out of control and overwhelming health services.
Lockdowns and other restrictions around the world have
resulted in many disputes between businesses and insurers over
the payment of claims for business interruption.
Insurers have put exclusion clauses into their policies as a
result, saying the pandemic is now a "known event" which cannot
be covered by insurance.
"There'll be some claims," CEO Stephen Hester told Reuters.
"We don't expect any material claims, in part because the
COVID exposures have been running off."
RSA, best known in Britain for its More Than brand, also has
large operations in Canada, Ireland and Scandinavia.
Rising commercial insurance rates, lower non-pandemic
related claims and a tightening up of its underwriting strategy
boosted RSA's underwriting profit in the first nine months of
2020, despite the impact of COVID-19.
RSA's combined ratio, a measure of performance in which a
level below 100% indicates a profit, stood at 90% in the third
quarter, compared with 93.6% at the end of 2019.
RSA did not give full profit numbers in its third quarter
trading statement.
But it said investment income was lower in the year to date,
and group net written premiums fell 3% to 4.7 billion pounds
($6.12 billion).
RSA is appealing some policy wordings in a case brought by
Britain's Financial Conduct Authority against eight insurers
over business interruption insurance claims.
The insurer said on Thursday that it was revising down its
initial estimate of the gross impact of the September ruling by
around 20 million pounds.
RSA has previously said paying claims on the policies would
cost around 104 million pounds, but some of this would be
covered by reinsurance.
RSA's shares were up 0.1% at 460.2 pence at 0827 GMT.
($1 = 0.7683 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Sinead Cruise and Mark
Potter)
