Download PDF - Hiscox

Notes to the consolidated
financial statements
continued
2 Significant accounting policies continued
2.22 Use of critical estimates,
judgements and assumptions continued
of risk beyond that envisaged at the time
of original policy issuance. The Group seeks
to gather corroborative evidence from all
relevant sources before making judgements
as to the eventual outcome of claims,
particularly those under litigation, which have
occurred and been notified to the Group but
remain unsettled at the balance sheet date.
Estimates of insurance liabilities are
continually evaluated based on entity
specific historical experience and
contemporaneous developments observed
in the wider industry when relevant, and
are also updated for expectations of
prospective future developments. Although
the possibility exists for material changes
in insurance liability estimates to have
a critical impact on the Group’s reported
performance and financial position, it is
anticipated that the scale and diversity of
the Group’s portfolio of insurance business
considerably lessens the likelihood of this
occurring. Note 27 to the consolidated
financial statements provides a greater
analysis of the main methods used by
the Group when formulating estimates
of the insurance claims liabilities at each
balance sheet date.
The Group carries its financial investments
at fair value through profit or loss with
fair value determined using published price
quotations in the most active financial
markets in which the assets trade.
During periods of economic distress and
diminished liquidity, the ability to obtain
quoted bid prices may be reduced and
as such a greater degree of judgement
is required in obtaining the most reliable
source of valuation. Note 3.2 to the financial
statements discusses the reliability of the
Group’s fair values.
With regard to employee retirement benefit
scheme obligations, the amounts disclosed
in these consolidated financial statements
are sensitive to judgemental assumptions
regarding mortality, inflation, investment
returns and interest rates on corporate
bonds, many of which have been subject
to specific recent volatility. This complex
set of economic variables may be expected
to influence the liability obligation element
of the reported net balance amount to a
greater extent than the reported value of
the scheme assets element. For example,
if the recent cuts in official UK interest rates
are replicated with lower yields emerging
in UK corporate bond indices, a significant
uplift may occur in the reported net scheme
deficit through the reduced effect of
discounting outweighing any expected
appreciation in asset values. A sensitivity
analysis is given at note 31.
Legislation concerning the determination
of taxation assets and liabilities is complex
and continually evolving. In preparing the
Group’s financial statements, the Directors
estimate taxation assets and liabilities after
taking appropriate professional advice.
The determination and finalisation of
agreed taxation assets and liabilities
may not occur until several years after
the balance sheet date and consequently
the final amounts payable or receivable
may differ from those presently recorded
in these financial statements.
2.23 Reporting of additional
performance measures
The Directors consider that the claims
ratio, expense ratio and combined ratio
measures reported in respect of operating
segments and the Group overall at note 4
provide useful information regarding the
underlying performance of the Group’s
businesses. These measures are widely
recognised by the insurance industry and
are consistent with internal performance
measures reviewed by senior management
including the chief operating decision
maker. However, these three measures are
not defined within the IFRS framework and
body of standards and interpretations and
therefore may not be directly comparable
with similarly titled additional performance
measures reported by other companies.
Net asset value per share and return on
equity measures, disclosed at notes 5
and 6, are likewise considered to be
additional performance measures.
3 Management of risk
Overview of risk
The Group enters into contracts that
directly accept and transfer insurance risk,
which in turn necessarily creates exposure
to financial and other classes of risk.
Consequently, Hiscox is fundamentally
concerned with the identification and
management of all significant risks.
The Group’s overall appetite for accepting
and managing varying classes of risk is
defined by the Group’s Board. The Board
has developed a governance framework
and set Group-wide risk management
policies and procedures which cover
specific areas such as risk identification,
risk management and mitigation, and risk
60 Notes to the consolidated financial statements Hiscox Ltd Report and Accounts 2009
reporting. The objective of these policies
and procedures is to protect the Group’s
shareholders, policyholders and other
stakeholders from negative events that
could hinder the Group’s delivery of its
contractual obligations and its achievement
of sustainable profitable economic and
social performance.
The Board exercises oversight of the
development and operational implementation
of its risk management policies and
procedures, and ongoing compliance
therewith, partially through its own enquiries
but primarily through a dedicated internal
audit function, which has operational
independence, clear terms of reference
influenced by the Board’s Non Executive
Directors and a clear upwards reporting
structure back into the Board.
The main sources of risk relevant to the
Group’s operations and its financial
statements fall into two broad categories:
insurance risk and financial risk. Note 3.1
details the Group’s approach to managing
insurance risk specifically whilst note 3.2
onwards outlines the Group’s sensitivity to
financial risk generally. Additional unaudited
information is also provided in the corporate
governance and risk management sections
of this Report and Accounts.
The Group, in common with the
non-life insurance industry generally,
is fundamentally driven by a desire to
originate, retain and service insurance
contracts to maturity, rather than engaging
in mass distribution of the risks assumed
through large scale securitisation. The
Group’s business is therefore fundamentally
different from other types of financial
institutions in that its cash flows are
funded mainly through advance premium
collections rather than assuming cash
deposits, and the timing of such premium
inflows is reasonably predictable. In
addition, the majority of material cash
outflows are typically triggered by the
occurrence of insured events noncorrelated
to financial markets, and not
by the inclination or will of policyholders.
Consequently, as the Group therefore has
the capacity to invest and hold a significant
proportion of assets to maturity if required,
it has the ability for many of its ultimate
cash flows to remain relatively immune to
short-term, technically driven accounting
losses in fair value terms.
3.1 Insurance risk
Insurance risk is transferred to the Group
by contract holders through the underwriting
process. The Group’s exposure to
insurance risk arises from the possibility