AXIS Capital Provides Preliminary Estimate of Pre-Tax Catastrophe Losses Impacting Third Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Business Wire

PEMBROKE, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (“AXIS Capital” or the “Company”) (NYSE: AXS) today announced a preliminary pre-tax loss estimate for Hurricane Dorian, Japanese typhoons and other weather-related events in the range of $150 million to $175 million, net of estimated recoveries from reinsurance and retrocessional covers, and including the impact of estimated reinstatement premiums. The estimate includes full limit losses from aggregate excess of loss reinsurance treaties that were also impacted by other 2019 catastrophe and weather-related events. The Company's loss estimate is consistent with industry insured losses of approximately $6 billion for Hurricane Dorian and $8 billion for third quarter Japanese typhoons.

The Company’s loss estimate is based on its ground-up assessment of losses from individual contracts and treaties exposed to the affected regions, including preliminary information from clients, brokers and loss adjusters. Industry insured loss estimates, market share analyses and catastrophe modeling analyses were also taken into account where appropriate. Due to the nature of these events, including the complexity of loss assessment, factors contributing to the losses and the preliminary nature of the information available to prepare this estimate, the actual net ultimate amount of losses for these events may differ materially from this current estimate.

About AXIS Capital

AXIS Capital, through its operating subsidiaries, is a global provider of specialty lines insurance and treaty reinsurance with shareholders' equity at June 30, 2019 of $5.6 billion and locations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Singapore, Canada and the Middle East. Its operating subsidiaries have been assigned a rating of "A+" ("Strong") by Standard & Poor's and "A+" ("Superior") by A.M. Best. For more information about AXIS Capital, visit our website at www.axiscapital.com.

Website and Social Media Disclosure

We use our website (www.axiscapital.com) and our corporate Twitter (@AXIS_Capital) and LinkedIn (AXIS Capital) accounts as channels of distribution of Company information. The information we post through these channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these channels, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. In addition, e-mail alerts and other information about AXIS Capital may be received when enrolled in our "E-mail Alerts" program, which can be found in the Investor Information section of our website (www.axiscapital.com). The contents of our website and social media channels are not, however, part of this press release.

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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include information regarding our estimates of losses related to catastrophe and weather-related events. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Important factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from our expectations include actual claims exceeding our loss reserves; the failure of any of the loss limitation methods we employ; the effects of emerging claims, coverage and regulatory issues, including uncertainty related to coverage definitions, limits, terms and conditions; the failure of our cedants to adequately evaluate risks; the use of industry catastrophe models and changes to these models; general economic conditions; and the other factors set forth in our most recent reports on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.