James River ends relationship with Uber

James River Group announced it delivered a notice of early cancellation, effective December 31, 2019, of all insurance policies issued to its largest customer, Rasier LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Uber Technologies, and its affiliates.  All insurance policies related to this customer are included in the Company’s commercial auto line of business within its Excess and Surplus Lines segment, and a majority of the insurance policies were due to expire on February 29, 2020.

“This account has not met our expectations for profitability, and we think it best to terminate the underwriting relationship as of year end.” –  J. Adam Abram, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of James River. The company has entered a partnership with Uber back in 2018 alongside Progressive, Allstate and Farmers.

Additionally, the company announced two key items that will impact its third quarter 2019 results:

• Pre-tax, adverse development of between $55 and $60 million, net of reinsurance recoveries and reinstatement premiums.  These losses are primarily related to its commercial auto line of business within its Excess and Surplus Lines segment, for the 2016 and 2017 underwriting years.  The remainder of these losses, less than $10 million, relate to prior underwriting years in its Casualty Reinsurance segment.
• Growth of 72% in its Core (Non-Commercial Auto) Excess and Surplus Lines Gross Written Premium versus the prior year quarter.

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