General

James River Group Holdings, Ltd. is a Bermuda-based holding company. We own and operate a group of specialty insurance and reinsurance companies. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , approximately 67.6% of our group-wide gross written premiums originated from the U.S. excess and surplus (“E&S”) lines market. Substantially all of our business is casualty insurance and reinsurance, and for the year ended December 31, 2018 , we derived 98.5% of our group-wide gross written premiums from casualty insurance and reinsurance. Our objective is to generate compelling returns on tangible equity, while limiting underwriting and investment volatility. We seek to accomplish this by consistently earning profits from insurance and reinsurance underwriting and generating meaningful risk-adjusted investment returns, while managing our capital opportunistically. Our group includes three specialty property-casualty insurance and reinsurance segments: Excess and Surplus Lines, Specialty Admitted Insurance and Casualty Reinsurance.

We write very little property or catastrophe insurance and no property catastrophe reinsurance. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , property insurance and reinsurance represented 1.5% of our gross written premiums. When we do write property insurance, we buy reinsurance to significantly mitigate our risk. We have structured our reinsurance arrangements so that our modeled net pre-tax loss from a 1/1000 year probable maximum loss ("PML") event is no more than $10.0 million on a group-wide basis.

We report our business in four segments: Excess and Surplus Lines, Specialty Admitted Insurance, Casualty Reinsurance and Corporate and Other.

The Excess and Surplus Lines segment sells E&S commercial lines liability and property insurance in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia through James River Insurance Company (“James River Insurance”) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, James River Casualty Company (“James River Casualty”). James River Insurance and James River Casualty are both non-admitted carriers. Non-admitted carriers writing in the E&S market are not bound by most of the rate and form regulations imposed on standard market companies, allowing them flexibility to change the coverage terms offered and the rate charged without the time constraints and financial costs associated with the filing of such changes with state regulators. In 2018 , the average account in this segment (excluding commercial auto policies) generated annual gross written premiums of approximately $20,000 . The Excess and Surplus Lines segment distributes primarily through wholesale insurance brokers. Members of our management team have participated in this market for over three decades and have long-standing relationships with the wholesale brokers who place E&S lines accounts. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment produced 56.3% of our gross written premiums and 74.9% of our net written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 .

The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment has two areas of focus. We write a select book of workers’ compensation coverage for building trades, healthcare employees and light manufacturing, among other light to medium hazard risks in select Southeastern and Eastern U.S. states, as well as fronting business which has become a significant element of our revenues and profits in this segment. Starting in 2017, we have de-emphasized the program business, as we believe fronting offers better risk adjusted return potential. In our fronting business, we retain a small percentage of the risk, generally 10% or less, and seek to earn fee income by allowing other carriers and producers to access our licensure, ratings, and underwriting and claims expertise. In our program business, our historic net retention was more than 10%. The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment accepts applications for insurance from a variety of sources, including independent retail agents, program administrators and managing general agents (“MGAs”). The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment produced 32.1% of our gross written premiums and 7.3% of our net written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 .

The Casualty Reinsurance segment provides proportional and working layer casualty reinsurance to third parties and to our U.S.-based insurance subsidiaries. Typically, we structure our reinsurance contracts (also known as treaties) as quota share arrangements, with loss mitigating features, such as commissions that adjust based on underwriting results. We frequently include risk mitigating features in our working layer excess of loss treaties, such as paid reinstatements, which allow the ceding company to capture a greater percentage of the profits should the business prove more profitable than expected, or alternatively, with additional premiums should the business incur higher than expected losses. We believe these structures best align our interests with the interests of our cedents. On a premium volume basis, treaties with loss mitigation features including sliding scale ceding commissions represented 81.7% of the gross premiums written by our Casualty Reinsurance segment during 2018 . We typically do not assume large individual risks in our Casualty Reinsurance segment, nor do we write property catastrophe reinsurance. Most of the policies assumed by our Casualty Reinsurance segment have a $1.0 million per occurrence limit, and we typically assume only a portion of that exposure. We believe this structure reduces volatility in our underwriting results. We do not assume stand-alone third-party property business at our Casualty Reinsurance segment, but we do have a small amount of assumed business with ancillary property exposure. 83.7% of premiums written by our Casualty Reinsurance segment during 2018 were general liability accounts assumed from E&S carriers. The Casualty Reinsurance segment distributes through

reinsurance brokers and produced 11.6% of our gross written premiums and 17.8% of our net written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 .

The Casualty Reinsurance segment writes business through two entities, JRG Reinsurance Company Ltd ("JRG Re") and Carolina Re Ltd ("Carolina Re"). Through December 31, 2017, we had intercompany reinsurance agreements under which we ceded 70% of the net written premiums of our U.S. subsidiaries (after taking into account third-party reinsurance) to JRG Re. Effective January 1, 2018, we generally discontinued ceding 70% of our U.S.-written premiums to JRG Re and instead ceded 70% of our U.S.-written premiums to Carolina Re. This business is ceded under proportional, or quota-share, reinsurance treaties that provide for an arm’s length ceding commission. We exclude the effects of intercompany reinsurance agreements from the presentation of our segment results, consistent with the way we manage the Company. At December 31, 2018 , 54.9% of our cash and invested assets were held at JRG Re, which benefits from a favorable operating environment, including an absence of corporate income or investment taxes.

On December 22, 2017, the United States enacted Public Law No. 115-97, informally titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). The Tax Act significantly changed the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), including by reducing the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and imposing a base erosion and anti-abuse tax (“BEAT”). In response to the Tax Act, we made changes to our structure in 2018 to minimize the impact of BEAT that included the formation of Carolina Re, a Bermuda-domiciled, wholly-owned subsidiary of James River Group, Inc. Carolina Re is a Class 3A reinsurer and made an irrevocable election to be taxed as a U.S. domestic corporation under Section 953(d) of the Code effective January 1, 2018. Carolina Re also entered into a stop loss reinsurance agreement with JRG Re.

The Corporate and Other segment consists of the management and treasury activities of our holding companies and interest expense associated with our debt.

In 2018 , our operating subsidiaries wrote $1,166.8 million of gross written premiums, allocated by segment and underlying market as follows:

The A.M. Best Company (“A.M. Best”) financial strength rating for our group’s regulated insurance subsidiaries is “A” (Excellent). This rating reflects A.M. Best’s evaluation of our insurance subsidiaries’ financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet obligations to policyholders and is not an evaluation directed towards the protection of investors.

The financial strength ratings assigned by A.M. Best have an impact on the willingness of brokers and agents to submit applications for insurance and reinsurance to our regulated subsidiaries and on the risk profiles of the submissions for insurance that our subsidiaries receive. The “A” (Excellent) ratings assigned to our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries are consistent with our business plans and we believe allow our subsidiaries to actively pursue relationships with the agents and brokers identified in their marketing plans.

Our History

In 2002, a group of experienced insurance executives with a history of starting and operating profitable specialty insurance operations created James River Group, Inc. (“James River Group”). James River Group was listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (symbol: JRVR) in 2005 and consistently produced attractive underwriting results. James River Group had two insurance company subsidiaries, James River Insurance and Stonewood Insurance Company (“Stonewood Insurance”). Both of these subsidiaries as well as James River Group remain subsidiaries of ours.

In 2007, James River Group’s management team decided to enhance James River Group’s long-term profitability by combining the earnings power of James River Group with the efficiency of an affiliated Bermuda domiciled reinsurer. A group of investors led by affiliates of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P., a global investment and technology firm, acquired James River Group, at which point it ceased trading as a public company. Simultaneously, the investors and management founded and capitalized JRG Re, and we began the process of building our present company.

In December 2014, we completed an initial public offering of our common shares (the “IPO”). Affiliates of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. and another institutional investor and its affiliate sold all of the common shares in the IPO. Neither the Company nor any of its management or other shareholders sold shares in the IPO. D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. sold its shares in our Company in a series of secondary offerings in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and no longer owns any of our shares.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe we have the following competitive strengths:

Proven and Strong Management Team Whose Financial Interests are Aligned with Shareholders.   Our Chief Executive Officer, Robert P. Myron, who has served in various capacities with our group since 2010, has a history of working in a senior management capacity in the insurance and reinsurance industries in both the United States and Bermuda. Mr. Myron has significant experience working in operations, finance and underwriting of several different insurance and reinsurance companies over the course of his career. Our Chief Financial Officer, Sarah C. Doran, joined our group in January 2017. She has significant experience with capital markets and corporate development related to the insurance and financial services industry. Ms. Doran has a history of working in a senior capacity in finance and advisory both within the insurance and reinsurance industry and for various investment banks.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of our Excess and Surplus Lines segment, Richard Schmitzer, who has been with our group since July 2009, has a history of working in a senior management capacity in the E&S lines industry. Mr. Schmitzer has significant experience working in underwriting and operations of several different insurance companies over the course of his career.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of our Specialty Admitted Insurance segment, Terry McCafferty, has extensive experience as an insurance underwriter, operator and executive, and has deep experience and industry knowledge to continue to build out our business initiatives in the fronting and specialty admitted risk business.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of our Casualty Reinsurance segment, Daniel Heinlein, has significant experience as a broker and underwriter of specialty reinsurance risks, particularly in the small account market where we concentrate.

The Non-Executive Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), J. Adam Abram, has a history of forming and managing profitable specialty insurance companies. He was a founder of the Company and a predecessor company, and he remains highly engaged as a key strategic contributor.

All members of our executive management and senior management have equity grants that we believe help align their interests with those of our long-term shareholders.

Broad Underwriting Expertise.    We strive to be innovative in tailoring our products to provide solutions for our distribution partners and insureds, and we are willing to entertain insuring many types of risk classifications. As a result, we believe we are a “go to” market for a wide variety of risks. We are able to structure solutions for our insureds and the wholesale brokers with whom we work because of our deep technical expertise and experience in the niches and specialties we underwrite.

Emphasis on Lowering Volatility.    We earn our profits by taking underwriting and investment risk. We underwrite many classes of insurance and invest in many types of assets. We actively seek to avoid underwriting business or making investments that expose us to an unacceptably high risk of large losses. We believe we have minimal exposure to material property risks and did not have material losses from property risks during 2018.

We seek to limit our catastrophic underwriting exposure in all areas, but in particular to property risks and catastrophic events. Our U.S. primary companies purchase reinsurance from unaffiliated reinsurers to reduce our net exposure to any one risk or occurrence. In addition, our policy forms and pricing are subject to regular formal analysis to ensure we are insuring the types of risks we intend and that we are being appropriately compensated for taking on those risks. When we write reinsurance, we seek to avoid catastrophic risks and contractually limit the amount of exposure we have on any one risk or occurrence. We prefer to structure our assumed reinsurance treaties as proportional or quota share reinsurance, which is generally less volatile than excess of loss or catastrophe reinsurance. We believe this structure aligns our interests with those of the ceding company.

Meaningful Risk Adjusted Investment Returns.    We seek to generate meaningful contributions to company profitability from our investment portfolio. We attempt to follow a diversified strategy that emphasizes the preservation of our invested

assets, provides adequate liquidity for the prompt payment of claims and produces attractive results for our shareholders. Within that context, we seek to improve risk-adjusted returns in our investment portfolio by allocating a portion of our portfolio to investments where we take measured risks based upon detailed knowledge of certain niche asset classes. Investment grade fixed maturity securities make up the majority of our investment portfolio, and we are comfortable allocating a portion of our assets to non-traditional investments. Our non-traditional investments have generally not included a meaningful allocation to listed common equities. We consider non-traditional investments to include investments that are (1) unrated bond or fixed income securities, (2) non-listed equities or (3) investments that generally have less liquidity than rated bond or fixed income securities or listed equities. Non-traditional investments represented 19.9% of our total invested assets at December 31, 2018 , consisting of syndicated bank loans ( 15.6% ) and other invested assets ( 4.3% ) that include interests in limited liability companies that invest in renewable energy opportunities, limited partnerships that invest in debt or equity securities, notes receivable for renewable energy projects, and a private debt security. While we are willing to make investments in non-traditional types of investments, we seek to avoid asset classes and investments that we do not understand. The weighted average credit rating of our portfolio of fixed maturity securities, bank loans and redeemable preferred stocks as of December 31, 2018 was “A”. At December 31, 2018 , the average duration of our investment portfolio was 3.4 years.

Talented Underwriters and Operating Leadership.    The managers of our 15 underwriting divisions have an average of over 25 years of industry experience, substantial subject matter expertise and deep technical knowledge. They have been successful and profitable underwriters for us in the specialty casualty insurance and reinsurance sectors. Our segment presidents all have extensive backgrounds and histories working in management capacities in specialty casualty insurance and reinsurance.

Robust Technology and Data Capture.    We seek to ground our underwriting decisions in reliable historical data and technical evaluation of risks. Our underwriters utilize intuitive systems and differentiated technologies, many of which are proprietary. We have implemented processes to capture extensive data on our book of business, before, during and after the underwriting analysis and decision. We use the data we collect to inform and, we believe, improve our judgment about similar risks as we refine our underwriting criteria. We use the data we collect in regular formal review processes for each of our lines of business and significant reinsurance treaties.

Focus on Small and Medium-Sized Casualty Niche and Specialty Business.    We believe that small and medium-sized casualty accounts, in niche areas where we focus, are consistently among the most attractive subsets of the property-casualty insurance and reinsurance market. We think the unique characteristics of the risks within these markets require each account to be individually underwritten in an efficient manner.

Many carriers have chosen either to reject business that requires individual underwriting or have attempted to automate the underwriting of this highly variable business. While we use technology to greatly reduce the cost of individually underwriting these accounts in our Excess and Surplus Lines and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments, we continue to have our underwriters make individual judgments regarding the underwriting and pricing of accounts. Our experience leads us to believe this approach is more likely to produce consistent results over time and across markets. In addition, while we believe that the insurance and reinsurance industry is generally overcapitalized at this time, we are currently achieving attractive, moderately increasing rates in our Excess and Surplus Lines and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments, which two segments combined represented 88.4% of our gross written premiums and 82.2% of our net written premiums for the twelve months ended December 31, 2018 . We believe that there are compelling opportunities for measured but profitable growth in many sectors of the insurance markets we target.

Active Claims Management.    Our U.S.-based primary insurance companies actively manage claims as part of keeping losses and loss adjustment expenses low. We attempt to investigate thoroughly and settle promptly all covered claims, which we generally accomplish through direct contact with the insured and other affected parties. We have historically been able to close approximately 95% of claims within five years, and as of December 31, 2018 , our reserves for claims incurred but not reported (“IBNR”) were 61.5% of our total net loss reserves.

Efficient Operating Platform.    We have what we believe to be a sector leading expense ratio, as we carefully manage personnel and all other costs throughout our group while growing our business. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , our expense ratio was 23% . Additionally, our Bermuda domicile and operations provide for capital flexibility and an efficient tax structure. At December 31, 2018 , 54.9% of our cash and invested assets were held at JRG Re, which benefits from a favorable operating environment, including an absence of corporate income or investment taxes.

Our Strategy

We believe our approach to our business will help us achieve our goal of generating compelling returns on tangible equity while limiting volatility in our financial results. This approach involves the following:

Generate Consistent Underwriting Profits.    We seek to make underwriting profits each and every year. We attempt to find ways to grow in markets that we believe to be profitable, but are less concerned about growth than maintaining profitability in

our underwriting activities (without regard to investment income). Accordingly, we are willing to reduce the premiums we write when we cannot achieve the pricing and contract terms we believe are necessary to meet our financial goals.

Maintain a Strong Balance Sheet.    Balance sheet integrity is key to our long-term success. In order to maintain balance sheet integrity, we seek to estimate the amount of future obligations, especially reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses, in a consistent and appropriate fashion. From December 31, 2007 through December 31, 2018 , we have experienced $106.0 million of cumulative net favorable reserve development.

Earn a Meaningful Contribution from Investments.    We seek to earn a meaningful contribution to our overall returns from our investment portfolio activities each year. We attempt to balance the preservation of assets, liquidity needs and mitigation of volatility with returns across our portfolio. We believe our diversified portfolio and ability to source investment opportunities positions us well to generate returns while balancing the importance of maintaining a strong balance sheet.

Focus on Specialty Insurance Markets and Fee Income.    By focusing on specialty markets in which our underwriters have particular expertise and in which we have fewer competitors than in standard markets, we have greater flexibility to price and structure our products in accordance with our underwriting strategy. We believe underwriting profitability can best be achieved through restricting our risk taking on insurance and reinsurance to niches where, because of our expertise, we can distinguish ourselves in the underwriting and pricing process. We also believe that we can achieve attractive returns on capital through the growth of our fronting business, as we carefully manage credit and collateral to generate attractive fee income, while generally utilizing less capital than in our highly underwritten businesses.

Use Timely and Accurate Data.    We design our internal processing and data collection systems to provide our management team with accurate and relevant information in real-time. We collect premium, commission and claims data, including detailed information regarding policy price, terms, conditions and the nature of the insured’s business. This data allows us to analyze trends in our business, including results by individual agent or broker, underwriter and class of business and expand or contract our operations quickly in response to market conditions. We rely on our information technology systems in this process. Additionally, the claims staff also contributes to our underwriting operations through its communication of claims information to our underwriters.

Respond Rapidly to Market Opportunities and Challenges.    We plan to grow our business to take advantage of opportunities in markets in which we believe we can use our expertise to generate consistent underwriting profits. We seek to measure rates monthly and react quickly to changes in the rates or terms the market will accept. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , our Excess and Surplus Lines segment gross written premiums increased by 23.8% over the same period in 2017 . In this favorable pricing environment, we have taken steps to grow and are increasing gross written premiums across most underwriting divisions in this segment. In 2018 , our growth was focused in our Commercial Auto, General Casualty, Excess Casualty, Allied Health, Energy, Life Sciences, Small Business, Environmental, and Excess Property divisions within our Excess and Surplus Lines segment. During the same period, we felt rates and terms and conditions were generally less adequate for risks submitted to our Manufacturers & Contractors, Professional Liability, and Medical Professionals divisions, and we reduced our writings in those divisions. This very specific evaluation of each risk or class of risks is a hallmark of our underwriting.

When market conditions have been challenging, or when actual experience has not been as favorable as we anticipated, we have tried to act quickly to evaluate our situation and to make course corrections in order to protect our profits and preserve tangible equity. Our actions have included reducing our writings when margins tightened and exiting lines or classes of business when we believed the risk of continuing in a line outweighed the potential rewards from underwriting. We do not hesitate to increase loss estimates when we determine that it is appropriate.

Manage Capital Actively.    We seek to make “both sides” of our balance sheet generate better than average risk-adjusted returns. We invest and manage our capital with a goal of consistently increasing tangible equity for our shareholders and generating attractive returns on tangible equity. We intend to expand our premium volume and capital base to take advantage of opportunities to earn an underwriting profit or to reduce our premium volume and capital base if attractive underwriting opportunities are not available. We expect to finance our future operations with a combination of debt and equity and do not intend to raise or retain more capital than we believe we can profitably deploy in a reasonable time frame. We may not, however, always be able to raise capital when needed. We declared dividends to our shareholders of $36.3 million ( $1.20 per share) during 2018 , $50.7 million ( $1.70 per share including a $0.50 per share special dividend) in 2017 and $66.3 million ( $2.25 per share including a $1.35 per share special dividend) in 2016 . While we have declared a special dividend in the past, we continue to find what we believe are attractive opportunities to earn a compelling return on our capital in the businesses that we target and therefore did not declare a special dividend in 2018. Our ratings from A.M. Best are very important to us, as are our relationships with our regulators, and maintaining them in good order is a principal consideration in our decisions regarding capital management.

Our Structure

The chart below displays our corporate structure as of December 31, 2018 as it pertains to our holding and operating subsidiaries.

Business Segments

Excess and Surplus Lines Segment

We report our U.S.-based E&S lines of business in our Excess and Surplus Lines segment. We underwrite non-admitted business through our subsidiaries, James River Insurance Company and James River Casualty Company, from offices in Richmond, Virginia; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Atlanta, Georgia. James River Insurance is our largest subsidiary as measured by gross written premiums ( 56.3% of consolidated gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 came from our Excess and Surplus Lines segment) and has been engaged in E&S insurance for 16 years. James River Insurance has had a consistent record of underwriting profits since its second year of operation. We added James River Casualty in 2009 to give us the ability to write E&S risks in Ohio.

E&S lines insurance focuses on insureds that generally cannot purchase insurance from standard lines insurers typically due to perceived risk related to their businesses. Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites property-casualty insurance on an E&S lines basis in all states and the District of Columbia. Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment distributes its policies through a network of authorized independent wholesale brokers throughout the United States. In 2018 , our Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s gross written premiums grew by 23.8% over 2017 through the growth of our commercial auto division (with a focus on transportation network companies), as well as across a number of other divisions. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment produced an average combined ratio of 86.7% from 2010 through 2018 .

Companies that underwrite on an E&S lines basis operate under a different regulatory structure than standard market carriers. E&S lines carriers are generally permitted to craft the terms of the insurance contract to suit the particular risk they are assuming. Also, E&S lines carriers are, for the most part, free of rate regulation. In contrast, standard market carriers are generally required to use approved insurance forms and to charge rates that have been authorized by or filed with state insurance departments. However, as E&S carriers, our insurance subsidiaries in the Excess and Surplus Lines segment are not backed by any state’s guarantee fund, and in most states these subsidiaries may only write coverage for an insured after they have been denied coverage by the standard market and signed declarations stating that the insured is aware that it will not have access to any state guarantee funds should these subsidiaries be unable to satisfy their obligations.

Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment writes policies for a wide range of businesses and does not write personal lines insurance. Applications for insurance are presented to us by authorized wholesale brokers who are typically engaged by retail agents after their clients have been rejected by standard markets.

In late 2017, the Excess and Surplus Lines segment started a binding contract unit (as part of our Small Business underwriting division) where limited authority for underwriting is delegated to a select group of agents on a limited number of General Liability classes through a company designed online portal.

All claims for business written by the Excess and Surplus Lines segment are managed by its internal claims department although we use independent adjusters for inspection and payment of certain claims.

The chart below identifies the Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s divisions and sets forth the amount of gross written premiums by each division.

Commercial Auto underwrites primarily the hired and non-owned auto liability exposures for a variety of industry segments including package delivery services, food delivery services and livery service organizations, and has developed a particular niche for insuring organizations' operating networks connecting independent contractors with customers (transportation network companies and similar usage-based networks). One insured (Rasier LLC and its affiliates) produced $294.3 million of gross written premiums, representing 44.8% of the Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s gross written premiums and 25.2% of our consolidated gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 . The head underwriter in this division has 31 years of experience. Limits assumed are retained by the Company, in some cases subject to self-insured retentions of the insureds.

Manufacturers and Contractors writes primary general liability coverage for a variety of classes, including manufacturers of consumer, commercial, and industrial products and general and trade contractors. Typically, we issue a $1.0 million per occurrence limit in this division and we retain the entire $1.0 million limit. The individual overseeing this division has 35 years of industry experience.

Excess Casualty underwrites excess liability coverage for a variety of risk classes including manufacturers, contractors, distributors and transportation risks. Typically, we provide between $1.0 million and $10.0 million per occurrence limits above a $1.0 million attachment point. Of this amount, we retain up to $1.0 million of exposure per occurrence and cede the balance to our reinsurers. We write excess liability coverage above our own primary policies, as well as policies issued by third parties. When we write above others’ policies, we are selective regarding underlying carriers, focusing on the nature of the business, the financial strength of the carrier, their pricing and their claims handling capabilities. The underwriter who heads this division has 35 years of industry experience.

General Casualty writes primary liability coverage on businesses exposed to premises liability type claims including real estate, mercantile and retail operations, apartments and condominiums, daycare facilities, hotels and motels, restaurants, bars, taverns and schools. The head underwriter in this division has 31 years of experience. Typically, we write $1.0 million per occurrence in limits, and we retain the entire $1.0 million limit.

Energy writes risks engaged in the business of energy production, distribution or mining, and the manufacture of equipment used in the energy business segment. Examples of classes underwritten by this division include oil and gas exploration companies, oil or gas well drillers, oilfield consultants, oil or gas lease operators, oil well servicing companies, oil or gas pipeline construction companies, fireworks manufacturing, mining-related risks, utilities, and utility contractors. We provide policy limits up to $11.0 million, with typical limits between $1.0 million and $5.0 million per occurrence, retaining up

to $1.0 million in limit net on either a primary or excess basis. The underwriter leading this division has 47 years of experience in the business.

Allied Health underwrites casualty insurance for allied health and social service types of risks, such as long-term care facilities, independent living apartments, group homes, half-way houses and shelters, drug rehabilitation, home health care and medical staffing enterprises. We provide policy limits up to $11.0 million, with typical limits between $1.0 million and $5.0 million per occurrence, retaining up to $1.0 million in limit net. The underwriter responsible for this unit has 25 years of experience in the business. Approximately 89% of the premiums written by our Allied Health division from inception through 2018 have been written on a claims made and reported form. We believe this policy form significantly reduces our long-term exposure in this complicated class of business.

Excess Property writes property risks providing limits in various layers above the primary coverage layer for a variety of classes, including apartments, condominiums, resorts, shopping centers, offices and general commercial properties. Typical per risk limits offered range from $5.0 million to $30.0 million on a gross basis, and a maximum of $5.0 million on a net of reinsurance basis. The average net per risk limit is approximately $2.5 million as of December 31, 2018 . We retain up to the first $5.0 million in any one event or catastrophe. The underwriter leading our Excess Property division has 33 years of experience in the industry.

Life Sciences underwrites general liability, products liability and/or professional liability coverage for manufacturers, distributors and developers of biologics (antibodies & vaccines used for the prevention of disease), nutraceuticals (health, nutrition and herbal supplements), human clinical trials, pharmaceuticals (mainly generics and over-the-counters) and medical devices. This division also writes a book of various types of business engaged in the medical and adult-use cannabis industry. We provide policy limits up to $11.0 million, with typical limits between $1.0 million and $5.0 million per occurrence, retaining up to $1.0 million in limit net. The underwriter at the head of this division has 35 years of experience in the industry.

Small Business concentrates on accounts with annual primary liability insurance premiums of less than $10,000. For these smaller risks, we limit flexibility in coverage options and pricing to facilitate quick turnaround and efficient processing. We generally write $1.0 million per occurrence limits and retain the entire amount. The underwriter leading this division has 25 years of industry experience.

Environmental underwrites contractors’ pollution liability, products pollution liability, site specific pollution liability and consultant’s professional liability coverage on a stand-alone basis and in conjunction with the general liability coverage. The underwriter heading our Environmental division has 47 years of experience in the business. Typically, we write environmental coverage for contractors who are not engaged in environmental remediation work on an occurrence form. We provide policy limits up to $11.0 million, with typical limits between $1.0 million and $5.0 million per occurrence, retaining up to $1.0 million in limit net on a primary or excess basis.

Professional Liability writes professional liability coverage for accountants, architects, engineers, lawyers and certain other professions. We provide policy limits up to $11.0 million, with typical limits between $1.0 million and $5.0 million per occurrence, retaining up to $1.0 million in limit net. The individual who directs our professional liability division has 25 years of industry experience. All of our professional liability coverage is written on a claims made and reported basis.

Sports and Entertainment underwrites primary liability coverage for sports and entertainment related risks, including special events, family entertainment centers, tourist attractions, health clubs and sport teams, leagues and complexes. Typical limits offered are up to $1.0 million per occurrence, and we retain the entire $1.0 million limit. The underwriter at the head of this division has 31 years of experience in the industry.

Medical Professionals underwrites non-standard physicians’ professional liability for individuals or small groups. Our healthcare business is a mix of both surgical and non-surgical classes. We typically provide between $1.0 million and $3.0 million per occurrence limits and retain up to $1.0 million of exposure per occurrence and cede the balance to our reinsurers. All of the policies written by this division have been issued on a claims-made and reported basis. The underwriter leading this division has 25 years of experience.

The following table identifies the top ten producing states by amount of gross written premium for our Excess and Surplus Lines segment for the year ended December 31, 2018 and the amount of gross written premium produced by such states for the years ended December 31, 2017 , 2016 , 2015 and 2014 . The table also shows the percentage of each states’ gross written premium to total gross written premium in the Excess and Surplus Lines segment for the years ended December 31, 2018 , 2017 and 2016 .

Marketing and Distribution

The Excess and Surplus Lines segment distributes its products through a select group of licensed E&S lines brokers that we believe can produce reasonable volumes of quality business for James River Insurance consistently. These brokers procure policies for their clients from us as well as from other insurance companies. At December 31, 2018 , the segment had authorized 117 broker groups to work with us. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment generally makes broker authorizations by brokerage office and underwriting division. With the exception of one hired and non-owned auto program (combined premiums of approximately $8.0 million for 2018) the Excess and Surplus Lines segment does not grant its brokers underwriting or claims authority. In late 2017, we introduced a Binding Contract division where limited authority for underwriting is delegated to a select group of agents for a limited group of General Liability classes through a company designed online portal.

Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment selects its brokers based upon management’s review of the experience, knowledge and business plan of each broker. While many of our Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s brokers have more than one office, we evaluate each office as if it were a separate entity. Often, our Excess and Surplus Lines segment authorizes some but not all offices owned by a brokerage for specialized lines of business. Brokers must be able to demonstrate an ability to competently produce both the quality and quantity of business that we seek. Brokers unable to produce consistently profitable business, or who produce unacceptably low volumes of business, may be terminated. Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s underwriters regularly visit with brokers in their offices to discuss the products that we offer and the needs of the brokers. We believe the personal relationships we foster with individual brokers and our ability to respond to a wide variety of risks placed by these brokers make us an important market for them.

Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s two largest brokers produced $439.7 million of gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 , representing approximately 67.0% of the Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s gross written premiums for 2018 . The two largest brokers produced $358.3 million (BB&T Insurance Services represented 30.7% of consolidated gross written premiums) and $81.4 million of gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 , respectively. One insured (Rasier LLC and its affiliates) produced $294.3 million of gross written premiums (representing 25.2% of our consolidated gross written premiums) and $13.9 million of fee income for the year ended December 31, 2018 .

In 2018 and 2017 , our Excess and Surplus Lines segment paid an average commission to producers of 9.6% and 10.9%, respectively, of gross written premiums.

Underwriting

Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s staff includes over 165 individuals directly employed in underwriting policies as of December 31, 2018 . We are very selective about the policies we bind. Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment binds approximately 3% of new submissions and one out of every six new quotes. We realize all excess and surplus lines applications

have already been rejected by the standard market. If our underwriters cannot reasonably expect to bind coverage at the combination of premiums and coverage that meet our standards, they are encouraged to quickly move on to another prospective opportunity. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , we received approximately 222,000 submissions (new and renewal, excluding commercial auto policies), quoted over 51,000 policies and bound over 15,000 policies.

When we accept risk in our Excess and Surplus Lines segment, we are careful to establish terms that are suited to the risk and the pricing. As an excess and surplus lines writer, we use our freedom of rate and form to make it possible to take on risks that have already been rejected by admitted carriers who have determined they cannot insure these risks on approved forms at filed rates.

We attempt to craft policies that offer affordable protection to our insureds by tailoring coverage in ways that make potential losses more predictable and are intended to reduce claims costs. For example, we frequently use a “punitive damages exclusion” and “defense inside the limits” endorsements, intended to prevent excessive defense costs; “assault and battery” exclusions or sub limits that are less than the full policy limits which allows us to quantify and limit our losses more precisely than in policies without the exclusion; and “classification limitation” and “specified location” endorsements that limit coverage to known exposures and locations. We have no material exposure to asbestos, lead paint, silica, mold, or nuclear, biological, or chemical terrorism.

We design our internal processing and data collection systems to provide our management team with accurate and relevant information in real-time. We collect premium, commission and claims data, including detailed information regarding policy price, terms, conditions and the nature of the insured’s business. This data allows us to analyze trends in our business, including results by individual broker, underwriter and class of business and expand or contract our operations quickly in response to market conditions. We rely on our information technology systems in this process. Additionally, the claims staff also contributes to our underwriting operations through its communication of claims information to our underwriters.

Claims

We believe that effective management of claims settlement and any associated litigation avoids delays and associated additional costs.

Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment’s claims department consists of over 330 claims professionals as of December 31, 2018 with significant claims experience in the property-casualty industry.

Our excess and surplus lines business generally results in claims from premises/operations liability, professional liability, hired and non-owned auto liability, auto physical damage, first party property losses and products liability. We believe the key to effective claims management is timely and thorough claims investigation. We seek to complete all investigations and adjust reserves appropriately as soon as is practicable after the receipt of a claim. We seek to manage the number of claims per adjuster to allow adjusters sufficient time to investigate and resolve claims. Senior management reviews each case above a specified amount at least quarterly to evaluate whether the key issues in the case are being considered and to monitor case reserve levels. We keep the settlement authority of front-line adjusters low to ensure the practice of having two or more members of the department participate in the decision as to whether to settle or defend. In addition, cases with unusual damage, liability or policy interpretation issues are subjected to peer reviews. Members of the underwriting staff participate in this process. Prior to any scheduled mediation or trial involving a claim, claims personnel conduct further peer review to make sure all issues and exposures have been adequately analyzed.

Our claims staff also contributes to our underwriting operations through communication of claims information to our underwriters. The Senior Vice President and Chief Claims Officer heads our forms committee, which reviews and develops all policy forms and exclusions, and is also a member of the underwriting review committee.

Approximately 95% of all claims received are closed within five years in the Excess and Surplus Lines segment.

The calendar year net loss ratios for the Excess and Surplus Lines segment for the last ten years were:

The 2018 and 2017 calendar year loss ratios for the Excess and Surplus Lines segment were impacted by adverse reserve development of $20.7 million and $38.7 million , respectively, in the commercial auto line of business. The adverse development was primarily related to the 2016 contract year with one insured.

Specialty Admitted Insurance Segment

The Falls Lake Insurance Companies (“Falls Lake”) comprise our other U.S. insurance segment, Specialty Admitted Insurance. Falls Lake consists of Falls Lake National Insurance Company (an Ohio domiciled company, licensed in 48 states and the District of Columbia and registered as a surplus lines company in California), and its subsidiaries Stonewood Insurance Company (a North Carolina domiciled company) and Falls Lake Fire and Casualty Company (a California domiciled company). The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment produced 32.1% of consolidated gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 .

Our plan is to continue to use our broad licensure and significant management expertise to earn substantial fee income as well as underwriting profits. The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment consists of:

Traditional Workers’ Compensation Business

Our individual risk workers’ compensation business, produced through a distribution channel comprised of appointed independent retail agents and a limited number of appointed wholesale brokers, remains a regionally focused effort in select Southeastern and Eastern U.S. states. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , approximately 49% of our retail produced workers’ compensation direct written premiums were in North Carolina, 16% were in Virginia, 13% were in South Carolina, and 11% were in Georgia. Building trades represented approximately 28% of the direct premiums in force in our retail produced workers’ compensation book in 2018. Other significant industry groups include healthcare employees (16%), goods and services (15%), manufacturing (11%), specialty transportation (11%) and agriculture (6%). We view our retail produced workers’ compensation business as a core competency and seek to make consistent underwriting profits from it. We recognize the cyclical nature of this line and are prepared to contract the business rapidly when rates decline, or the regulatory or economic environment makes it difficult to contain costs.

Fronting & Program Business

In our fronting business we issue insurance policies for another insurance company which may not have the licensure, product suite or rating to serve its desired market, or for a program supported by reinsurance or alternative capital provider(s). We generally retain 10% or less of the underwriting risk in our fronting business. The issuance of our policy makes us contractually responsible to the insured in the event they experience a covered loss. We enter into these arrangements selectively with counterparties which have significant experience and market presence in their desired segment of property-casualty, workers compensation or automobile business. Underwriting, claims and financial performance is subject to regular review by our staff, and we hold appropriate collateral to manage counterparty credit risk. We specifically grant limited authority for underwriting and claims administration and employ a rigorous review process to ensure the authority is

appropriately used within the terms of our contract, and that collateral held by us is appropriate as determined by our personnel. We charge fees as a percentage of gross written premiums for issuing these policies. We establish fronting opportunities through a variety of sources, including direct carrier relationships, MGAs and reinsurance brokers.

Due to our broad licensure and product filings, we are positioned to support this business on a broad basis throughout the U.S. Because of the limited capital allocation required to support it, we believe the fronting business represents an efficient use of capital, and we continued to expand this business in 2018. One fronting program (Atlas General Insurance Services) produced $201.7 million of gross written premiums in 2018 representing 17.3% of consolidated gross written premiums and 53.9% of the Specialty Admitted Insurance segment's gross written premiums.

Our objective over time is to utilize the combination of fee income and underwriting profits from our Specialty Admitted Insurance segment to leverage our capital and enhance returns on tangible equity. Additionally, we expect that this fee income, which was $14.8 million in 2018 and $11.3 million in 2017 , will be increasingly material in future periods and provide us with a steady revenue stream.

In a program arrangement, we give selected MGAs authority to act on our behalf to produce, underwrite and administer policies that meet our strict underwriting and pricing guidelines. We enter into these arrangements selectively with agents who have significant experience and market presence in specialty classes of property-casualty and automobile risks. Underwriting, claims and financial performance is subject to regular review by our staff. We only work with MGAs who permit us to actively engage with them through a combination of onsite and offsite resources to facilitate our real-time supervision of their work. We specifically grant limited authority for underwriting and claims administration and employ a rigorous review process to ensure the authority is appropriately used.

We focus our coverage on casualty risks in our program business, although some property insurance is written. We seek to limit our risk generally through reinsurance either on a proportional or excess of loss basis, or sometimes both. For initial claims oversight and administration, we generally outsource frequency layer claims management to third-party administrators for the first $50,000 of a claim, and then provide supervisory control above this amount.

Under the terms of these program agreements, we pay fixed commissions with a profit contingency. In addition, we typically build in a “margin” between the commission we earn from our reinsurers and the commissions paid to the MGAs. This spread enhances our net underwriting returns and profitability. Our program business is distributed primarily through MGAs and program managers.

Excluding our Atlas program, we have seven active fronting arrangements as of December 31, 2018 . During 2018 , these arrangements represented 25.6% of the segment’s gross written premium.

Casualty Reinsurance Segment

We report our business of writing reinsurance for third party insurance companies in our Casualty Reinsurance segment (representing 11.6% of consolidated gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 ). We participate in the reinsurance business through our Bermuda domiciled reinsurance subsidiary, JRG Re, which is a Class 3B reinsurer. JRG Re provides proportional and working layer treaty reinsurance to third parties and, through December 31, 2017, also to our U.S.-based insurance subsidiaries. For purposes of management evaluation, this segment’s underwriting results only include premiums ceded by, and losses incurred with respect to, business assumed from unaffiliated companies and does not include premiums and losses ceded under the internal reinsurance arrangements. In response to the Tax Act, we made changes to our structure in 2018 that included the formation of Carolina Re, a Bermuda-domiciled, wholly-owned subsidiary of James River Group, Inc. Carolina Re is a Class 3A reinsurer and made an irrevocable election to be taxed as a U.S. domestic corporation under Section 953(d) of the Code effective January 1, 2018. We generally discontinued ceding 70% of our U.S.-written premiums to JRG Re and instead ceded 70% of our U.S.-written premiums to Carolina Re as of January 1, 2018. Carolina Re also entered into a stop loss reinsurance agreement with JRG Re.

During the year ended December 31, 2018 , our Casualty Reinsurance segment had underwriting income of $5.1 million as a stand-alone entity. We underwrote $135.9 million in gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 , 97.3% of which consisted of E&S risks. Of those third-party premiums written by JRG Re, 85.8% was for general liability and 8.4% was for non-medical professional liability, with the balance primarily related to excess casualty and commercial auto coverages. We typically structure our reinsurance treaties as quota share arrangements with loss and risk mitigating features that align our interest with that of the ceding companies. On a premium volume basis, treaties with loss mitigation features including sliding scale ceding commissions represented 81.7% of the third-party gross written premiums during 2018 and treaties written as “proportional” arrangements represented 96.9% . We purchase very little retrocessional coverage in this segment. Almost all of the segment’s premiums are for casualty lines of business. The Casualty Reinsurance segment writes virtually no reinsurance designed to respond specifically to natural catastrophes.

The Casualty Reinsurance segment’s two largest brokers generated $54.0 million and $42.3 million , respectively, representing 70.9% of the segment’s gross written premiums in the year ended December 31, 2018 . The Casualty Reinsurance

segment’s three largest relationships with unaffiliated ceding companies generated $126.3 million ( $83.4 million , $22.1 million , and $20.8 million , respectively) representing 10.8% of consolidated gross written premiums and 92.9% of the Casualty Reinsurance segment's gross written premiums for the year ended December 31, 2018 .

Underwriting profits and investment income earned by JRG Re are exempt from U.S. taxation. We do, however, pay a 1% U.S. Federal excise tax on premiums ceded to JRG Re. At December 31, 2018 , JRG Re cash and invested assets made up 54.9% of our total cash and invested assets.

Corporate and Other Segment

Our President and Chief Executive Officer, our Chief Financial Officer and other holding company employees are part of the Corporate and Other segment. This is where we set and direct strategy for the group as a whole as well as high level objectives for each of the three operating segments. We make all capital management, capital allocation, treasury functions, information technology and group wide risk management decisions in this segment. Our decisions at this level also include reinsurance purchasing.

Purchase of Reinsurance

We routinely purchase reinsurance for our Excess and Surplus Lines and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments and, less frequently purchase retrocessional coverage for our Casualty Reinsurance segment. The purchase of reinsurance reduces volatility by limiting our exposure to large losses and provides capacity for growth. In a reinsurance transaction, an insurance company transfers, or cedes, all or part of its exposure in return for a portion of the premium. In a retrocession transaction, a reinsurer transfers, or cedes, all or part of its exposure in return for a portion of the premium. Our companies remain legally responsible for the entire obligation to policyholders and ceding companies, irrespective of any reinsurance or retrocession coverage we may purchase. Typically, we pay claims from our own funds and then seek reimbursement from the reinsurer or retrocessionaire, as applicable. There is credit exposure with respect to losses ceded to the extent that any reinsurer or retrocessionaire is unable or unwilling to meet the obligations ceded by us under reinsurance or retrocessional treaties. The ability to collect on reinsurance or retrocessional reinsurance is subject to many factors, including the solvency of the counterparty and their interpretation of contract language and other factors. We currently have no disputes with any reinsurer or retrocessionaire, and we are not aware of any credit quality issues with any of our reinsurers or retrocessionaires at December 31, 2018 .

Purchased Property Reinsurance

Our focus on return on tangible equity leads us to avoid lines of business that we know are exposed to high degrees of volatility. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment writes a limited book of excess property risks (approximately $17.0 million direct written premiums in 2018 ). The risks assumed in this book are geographically dispersed and significantly reinsured to limit losses. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment may retain up to $5.0 million per risk on our excess property book; however, the average retained amount per risk is approximately $2.5 million. In our Specialty Admitted Insurance segment, we focus on casualty business, but we do write a limited amount of property insurance, principally through our fronting and programs business. The focus in our Casualty Reinsurance segment is also primarily casualty business, but we do have a relatively small amount of assumed business with property exposure.

In our Excess and Surplus Lines segment, we purchased a surplus share reinsurance treaty specifically designed to cover property risks. The surplus share treaty along with facultative reinsurance helps ensure that our net retained limit per risk will be $5.0 million or less. Additionally, we purchased catastrophe reinsurance of $40.0 million in excess of a $5.0 million retention for the group that is intended to cover the 1 in 1,000 year modeled aggregate PML on the segment’s excess property book. We buy such high limits because we believe the property catastrophe models are less accurate when applied to small books of business like ours than when applied to larger portfolios. Where the Specialty Admitted Insurance segment incurs incidental property risks in its program book of business, the segment has purchased coverage for $4.0 million in excess of $1.0 million per occurrence, in addition to the protection provided under the corporate $40.0 million in excess of $5.0 million catastrophe treaty. This is also intended to cover the 1 in 1,000 year modeled aggregate PML on any property exposures the Specialty Admitted Insurance segment assumes. In our Casualty Reinsurance segment, we believe that our maximum loss from a catastrophic event is approximately $2.0 million and, as a result, we do not currently purchase retrocessional reinsurance coverage for property-catastrophe risks. In the aggregate, we believe our pre-tax group-wide PML from a 1 in 1,000 year catastrophic event is approximately $10.0 million, inclusive of reinstatement premiums payable.

Purchased Casualty Reinsurance

In our Excess and Surplus Lines segment, there are five divisions where we only write $1.0 million per occurrence limits (Commercial Auto, Manufacturers and Contractors, General Casualty, Small Business and Sports and Entertainment), and therefore, we do not purchase any specific reinsurance for these policies. In the other divisions, where we issue policies with larger limits, we purchase reinsurance in excess of $1.0 million per occurrence.

In our Specialty Admitted Insurance segment, there are two distinct reinsurance strategies. For individual risk workers' compensation, we purchase $29.4 million excess of $600,000 per occurrence; and, effective October 1, 2017, we also purchased a 50% quota share coverage of the primary $600,000. For our fronting and program business, we purchase proportional reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance to limit our exposure to no more than $500,000 per occurrence.

For both our Excess and Surplus Lines segment and our Specialty Admitted Insurance segment, we purchase a clash and contingency reinsurance treaty that covers all casualty business for $10.0 million in excess of $2.0 million per occurrence. This coverage is intended to respond in a situation where we have multiple insured losses from the same event.

In our Casualty Reinsurance segment, we currently do not purchase any material retrocessional reinsurance. In prior periods, we have purchased proportional and excess of loss retrocessional coverage for particular situations related to specific treaties, but have only done so on a limited basis.

For 2018 , our top ten reinsurers represented 79.4% of our total ceded reinsurance recoverables, and all of these reinsurance recoverables were from reinsurers with an A.M. Best rating of “A-” (Excellent) or better or are collateralized with letters of credit or by a trust agreement. The following table sets forth our ten most significant reinsurers by amount of reinsurance recoverables on unpaid losses and the amount of reinsurance recoverables pertaining to each such reinsurer as well as its A.M. Best rating as of December 31, 2018 :

Amounts Recoverable from an Indemnifying Party

The Company is a party to a set of insurance contracts with an insured group of companies under which the Company pays losses and loss adjustment expenses on the contract. The Company has indemnity agreements with this group of insured parties (non-insurance entities) and is contractually entitled to receive reimbursement for a significant portion of the losses and loss adjustment expenses paid on behalf of the insured parties and other expenses incurred by the Company. The insured parties are required to collateralize all amounts currently due to the Company and to provide additional collateral sufficient to cover the amounts that may be recoverable under the indemnity agreements, including among other things case loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, IBNR loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, extra contractual obligations and excess of policy limits liabilities. This collateral is currently provided through a collateral trust arrangement established in favor of the Company by a captive insurance company affiliate of the insured group. At December 31, 2018 , the cash equivalent collateral held in the

collateral trust arrangement was approximately $1,099.2 million , which exceeds the amount of claims receivable and unpaid reported losses and loss adjustment expenses outstanding. The Company has ongoing exposure to estimated losses and expenses on these contracts growing at a faster pace than growth in our collateral balances. In addition, we have credit exposure if our estimates of future losses and loss adjustment expenses and other amounts recoverable, which are the basis for establishing collateral balances, are lower than actual amounts paid or payable. The amount of our credit exposure in any of these instances could be material. To mitigate these risks, we closely and frequently monitor our exposure compared to our collateral held, and we request additional collateral when our analysis indicates that we have uncollateralized exposure.

Reserve Policy

We seek to establish reserves that will adequately meet our obligations. We have seven credentialed actuaries on staff, and we engage independent actuarial consultants to review our decisions regarding reserves twice a year.

We maintain reserves for specific claims incurred and reported, reserves for claims incurred but not reported (“IBNR”) and reserves for uncollectible reinsurance when appropriate. Our ultimate liability may be greater or less than current reserves. In the insurance industry, there is always the risk that reserves may prove inadequate. We continually monitor reserves using new information on reported claims and a variety of statistical techniques and adjust our estimates as necessary as experience develops or new information becomes known. Such adjustments (referred to as reserve development) are included in current operations. Anticipated inflation is reflected implicitly in the reserving process through analysis of cost trends and the review of historical development. We do not discount our reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses to reflect estimated present value.

When setting our reserves, we use a blend of actuarial techniques that are chosen to reflect the nature of the lines of insurance we underwrite. We seek to be consistent and transparent in establishing our reserves.

In many cases, several years may elapse between the occurrence of an insured loss, the reporting of the loss and our eventual payment of the loss. We establish loss and loss adjustment expense reserves for the ultimate payment of all losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred. We estimate the reserve for losses and loss adjustment expenses using individual case-basis valuations of reported claims. We also use statistical analyses to estimate the cost of losses that have been incurred but not reported to us. These estimates are based on historical information and on estimates of future trends that may affect the frequency of claims and changes in the average cost of claims that may arise in the future. We also consider various factors such as:

The procedures we use to estimate loss reserves assume that past experience, adjusted for the effects of current developments and anticipated trends, is an appropriate basis for predicting future events. It also assumes that adequate historical or other data exists upon which to make these judgments. These estimates are by their nature subjective and imprecise, and ultimate losses and loss adjustment expenses may vary from established reserves.

Our Reserve Committee consists of our Chief Actuary, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Accounting Officer. Additionally, the presidents and chief actuaries of each of our three insurance segments assist in the evaluation of reserves in their respective segments. The Reserve Committee meets quarterly to review the actuarial recommendations made by each chief actuary and uses its best judgment to determine the best estimate to be recorded for the reserve for losses and loss adjustment expenses on our quarterly balance sheet.

The following table reflects our reserve development by segment during the calendar years 2018 to 2009 individually and in aggregate.

Among the indicators of reserve strength that we monitor closely are the number of claims outstanding from a given year and the amount of IBNR reserves held on our balance sheet for claims that have been incurred but not yet reported to us. As a general rule, every known claim has a specific case reserve established against it which management believes is adequate to resolve the claim and pay attendant expenses based on information available at the time.

A significant portion of reported claims from prior policy years were closed at December 31, 2018 . The table below sets forth the percentage of claims closed by policy year for our Excess and Surplus Lines and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments for the policy years indicated.

Another indicator of reserve strength that we monitor closely is the percentage of our gross and net loss reserves that are comprised of IBNR reserves. The table below sets forth our IBNR, total gross reserves and the percentage that IBNR represents of the total gross reserves, in each case by segment and in the aggregate, at December 31, 2018 . The percentage that IBNR represents of total gross reserves at December 31, 2018 is 62.4% .

The table below sets forth our IBNR, total net reserves and the percentage that IBNR represents of the total net reserves, in each case by segment and in the aggregate, at December 31, 2018 . The percentage that IBNR represents of total net reserves at December 31, 2018 is 61.5% .

Investment Strategy

We attempt to generate better than market average risk-adjusted returns in our investment portfolio by taking measured risks based upon detailed knowledge of certain niche asset classes. While we are willing to make investments in non-traditional types of investments, we avoid risks that we do not understand well, as well as structures or situations we think could cause

substantial loss of capital. The vast majority of our investment portfolio is managed by third party, independent investment managers.

The majority of our investment portfolio is invested in what we refer to as our Core Portfolio of investment grade fixed income securities. This portfolio provides predictable income with low risk of principal loss. We seek to augment the return on the Core Portfolio by investing in bank loans, higher yielding securities and private investments. We designed these strategies to improve our investment return and are focused on opportunistic investing in areas where we believe our management, directors or employees have expertise or understanding of the risk and return of the investment.

Our strategy is designed to earn higher returns than an investment grade fixed income approach alone while maintaining a high average portfolio credit rating and investing in asset classes and allocations that are consistent with the insurance regulatory and rating agency framework within which we operate. We generally focus on securities that provide some current income.

As a result of affiliated and third party reinsurance contracts, we have been able to grow our asset base at JRG Reinsurance Company Ltd, which is domiciled in Bermuda and is not subject to U.S. corporate taxation. At December 31, 2018 , 54.9% of our cash and invested assets were held at JRG Re.

The prolonged low interest rate environment made it difficult for insurance companies to earn attractive returns on capital because of reduced investment income. If sustained, recent increases in interest rates will slowly improve investment income from fixed income investments. Our premium growth has allowed us to build our asset base. Cash and invested assets now represent 3.8 times our tangible equity.

A summary of our investment portfolio at December 31, 2018 is as follows:

We have generally managed our overall portfolio to a duration of 3 to 5 years. At December 31, 2018 , the average duration of our investment portfolio was 3.4 years.

Core Portfolio

The Core Portfolio consists of cash and investment grade fixed income securities. Our objective in the Core Portfolio is to earn attractive risk-adjusted returns with a low risk of loss of principal. We use a third-party manager to manage the Core Portfolio.

Bank Loans

The Bank Loan portfolio primarily consists of investments in participations in syndicated bank loans, but may also include a small allocation of bonds. Bank loans in our portfolio are generally senior secured loans with an average credit quality of “B” as of December 31, 2018 and floating interest rates based on spreads over LIBOR. We believe bank loans are an attractive asset class because (1) floating-rate loans help to reduce our risk of loss in the event of rising interest rates, (2) the loans are generally senior secured, (3) the asset class has a history of relatively high recovery rates in the event of default, (4) the portfolio provides an attractive yield and (5) the maturities of the loans are relatively short (average of 5 years). We invest in this asset class by owning individual loan participations that are carried at amortized cost less any loan loss allowance. We have over nine years of experience in investing in this asset class through a third-party manager.

Incremental Yield Portfolio

The Incremental Yield Portfolio consists of investments in low investment grade and below investment grade bonds, preferred stocks, dividend paying common equities and exchange traded funds. The average credit quality of the fixed income securities in this portfolio as of December 31, 2018 is BBB. We generally invest in fixed income securities where we believe

that risk of default is low relative to the potential yield on the securities. We own preferred stocks, generally in the financial services industry. In some instances, we will purchase common equity securities and exchange traded funds. However, these purchases are generally used as an effective means to get access to a high yielding asset class. As of December 31, 2018 , only $9.5 million of the Incremental Yield Portfolio is invested in common equities and exchange traded funds.

Private Investment Portfolio

We make selective investments in private debt or equity securities in areas where we see significant opportunity or attractive risk and return characteristics. We focus on investments where we believe we have an understanding of the risk and opportunity and have the ability to monitor them closely. At December 31, 2018 , we held 11 private investments with a total carrying value of $73.6 million . Our portfolio consists of investments in wind and solar energy, banking, small cap equities, loans of middle market private equity sponsored companies, equity tranches of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and tranches of distressed home loans. We are opportunistic in our private investment strategy and our portfolio may grow or shrink based on the opportunities available to us. Despite being only 4.3% of our portfolio, we believe our Private Investment Portfolio has added meaningful returns to our tangible equity. Our Private Investment strategy has significant risk and not all investments are successful. As a result, we intentionally keep this portfolio as a small portion of the overall investment portfolio.

Our recent total returns on our portfolio are as follows:

Total returns are calculated as the realized or unrealized gain or loss of an asset plus interest and dividends paid while the asset is held.

We consider a portion of our investment portfolio to be invested in non-traditional investments. We consider non-traditional investments to include investments that are (1) not rated bond or fixed income securities (2) non-listed equities or (3) investments that generally have less liquidity than rated bond or fixed income securities or listed equities. Non-traditional investments held at December 31, 2018 and their respective percentage of our total invested assets at such date consist of syndicated bank loans ( 15.6% ), interests in limited liability companies that invest in renewable energy opportunities ( 1.8% ), limited partnerships that invest in debt or equity securities ( 1.7% ), notes receivable for renewable energy projects ( 0.5% ), and a private debt security ( 0.3% ). We will continue to actively review opportunities to invest in non-traditional assets and may invest in additional non-traditional assets in the future.

Our invested assets totaled $1,677.8 million as of December 31, 2018 . The weighted average credit rating of our portfolio of fixed maturity securities, bank loans and redeemable preferred stocks as of December 31, 2018 was “A”. We have intentionally maintained a cautious interest rate risk position by having an average duration of 3.4 years at December 31, 2018 . This compares to an average duration at December 31, 2017 of 3.5 years. Based on the current duration of 3.4 years, a 1.0% increase in interest rates would result in a pre-tax decline in the market value of our portfolio of approximately $55.1 million.

Insurance Cycle Management and Growth

The insurance and reinsurance business is cyclical in nature, with “hard” and “soft” cycles. Hard markets occur when insurance underwriters limit their exposure in a line of business or across their entire portfolio. When underwriters exercise restraint, insurance buyers are forced to pay more to induce underwriters to cover their risks. A hard market can also be created by economic expansions when capital committed to backing insurance policies does not grow as fast as the demand for insurance. There is generally a correlation between interest rates and the willingness of insurance companies to commit their capital to writing insurance. When fixed income yields are low, insurance companies need to raise insurance prices to improve underwriting results in order to offset loss of investment income.

We are currently in a growth phase for our U.S. primary operations. In both our Excess and Surplus Lines and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments, we are experiencing growth in premiums driven by stable rates as well as increases in policy count and exposures. The table below shows the changes in gross written premiums we have experienced in our operating segments from 2016 through 2018.

In years prior to those presented, the business written at our U.S. primary operations has, at times, been subject to “soft” market conditions, reflected both in price decreases and reduced underlying exposures. The recession in the United States from 2008 to 2010 was a significant driver of these soft market conditions.

Our Excess and Surplus Lines segment is the most sensitive to hard and soft markets. We have, therefore, sought to diversify this business by geography, line of business and revenue stream. From 2006 to 2010, we reduced the gross written premiums in this business from $249.1 million to $116.1 million, or 53.4%. While we have been growing this business and achieving increasing or stable rates for several periods through December 31, 2018 , there will likely be periods in the future where our growth moderates, stagnates or turns negative.

The Excess and Surplus Lines segment has historically been able to make an underwriting profit regardless of the state of the underwriting cycle. This segment's weighted average combined ratio for 2010 through 2018 is 86.7% .

Traditionally, admitted insurance lines have been very susceptible to market cycles. We believe this trend is continuing. We seek to isolate ourselves from these trends in our Specialty Admitted Insurance segment by writing lines of business we believe are slightly less competitive, by prudently purchasing reinsurance and by being willing to dramatically reduce our writings when market conditions warrant.

A material portion of the profitability we seek to achieve from our fronting business will come from fee income that is generated via policies that are issued by our insurance companies and then mostly or wholly reinsured to third parties. Because we earn substantial fees from underwriting business on which we retain little or no insurance risk, this business can be profitable to us even in soft market conditions. We have $319.1 million of gross written premiums for fronting and program business for 2018 ( $30.5 million on a net basis), and we expect our fee income will continue to grow in future periods and provide us with a steady revenue stream that will be relatively insulated from conditions in the admitted insurance market.

In the Casualty Reinsurance segment, we have the ability to manage the cycle by growing or shrinking our business according to market conditions and the corresponding prices and terms being offered for the assumption of specific risks. We have a small team of nine people in Bermuda who underwrite and administer the business written by JRG Re in Bermuda. Accordingly, our overhead is low and does not necessitate us growing this business from its current size.

Competition

We compete in a variety of markets against a variety of competitors depending on the nature of the risk and coverage being underwritten. The competition for any one account may range from large international firms to smaller regional companies in the domiciles in which we operate. To remain competitive, our strategy includes, among other measures: (1) focusing on rate adequacy and underwriting discipline, (2) leveraging our distribution network, (3) controlling expenses, (4) maintaining financial strength and issuer credit ratings and (5) providing quality services to agents and policyholders.

Excess and Surplus Lines

Competition within the E&S lines marketplace comes from a wide range of carriers. In addition to mature E&S companies that operate nationwide, there is competition from carriers formed in recent years. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment may also compete with national and regional carriers from the standard market willing to underwrite selected accounts on an admitted basis. Competitors in this segment include ACE Westchester Specialty Group, Admiral Insurance Company (W. R. Berkley Corporation), AmRisc Insurance Company (BB&T - Branch Banking & Trust Company), Apollo Syndicate, Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc., Axis Insurance Company (Axis Capital Holdings Limited), Beazley Group (Lloyd’s), Brit Insurance (Lloyd’s), Colony Specialty Insurance Company (Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd.), Evanston Insurance Company (Markel Corporation), First Mercury Insurance Company (Fairfax Financial Holdings, Ltd.), Gemini Insurance Company (W. R. Berkley Corporation), Hiscox Insurance Company (Lloyd’s), Houston Casualty Company (a subsidiary of Tokio Marine HCC), Integrity Insurance, Kinsale Capital Group, Landmark American Insurance Company (RSUI Group - Alleghany Corporation), Lexington Insurance Company (American International Group, Inc.), Markel Corporation, Mt. Hawley Insurance Company (RLI Corp.), Navigators Insurance Company, OneBeacon (Intact Financial Corporation), RLI Corp., RSUI Group, Inc. (Alleghany Corporation), Scottsdale Insurance Company (Nationwide Mutual Group), Starr Insurance Company (C.V. Starr & Company), United Specialty Insurance Company, Ventus Risk Management (utilizing XL Catlin

Insurance Company paper - hedge fund and private investors for capital), and other large national and multi-national insurance carriers.

Specialty Admitted Insurance

Due to the diverse nature of the products offered by the Specialty Admitted Insurance segment, competition comes from various sources. The majority of the competition for our workers’ compensation business comes from regional companies or regional subsidiaries of national carriers in the domiciles in which they operate. National carriers tend to compete for fronting and program accounts along all product lines. Competitors in our workers’ compensation business include Builders Mutual Insurance Company, Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, W. R. Berkley Corporation, American Interstate Insurance Company (AMERISAFE, Inc.), and Amtrust Group. Competition for our fronting business includes State National (now part of Markel), Argo Group, Clear Blue, Spinnaker, Trisura, Red Point, Equity Insurance Company, Worth Insurance, Amtrust, and various Texas based county mutual insurance companies.

Casualty Reinsurance

The reinsurance industry is highly competitive. We expect to compete with major reinsurers, most of which are well-established, have a significant operating history and strong financial strength ratings and have developed long-standing client relationships. Competitors in this segment include AXA XL, Hamilton Re, MS Amlin, Odyssey Re, Sompo International Re, Tokio Millenium Re, Transatlantic Re, and various LLoyd's syndicates.

Regulation

Bermuda Insurance Regulation

The Insurance Act 1978 and related rules and regulations (the “Insurance Act”), which regulates the insurance business of both Carolina Re and JRG Re, provides that no person shall carry on insurance business in or from within Bermuda unless registered as an insurer under the Insurance Act by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (the “BMA”). The BMA, in deciding whether to grant registration, has broad discretion to act as it thinks fit in the public interest. The BMA is required by the Insurance Act to determine whether the applicant is a fit and proper body to be engaged in the insurance business and, in particular, whether it has, or has available to it, adequate knowledge and expertise. The registration of an applicant as an insurer is subject to its complying with the terms of its registration and such other conditions as the BMA may impose at any time.

It is not necessary that the insurance company be incorporated in Bermuda. A foreign corporation may obtain a permit under the Companies Act of Bermuda, 1981 (the “Companies Act”) to carry on business in Bermuda and then be registered as an insurer in Bermuda under the Insurance Act.

The Insurance Act does not distinguish between insurers and reinsurers; companies are registered (licensed) under the Insurance Act as “insurers” (although in certain circumstances a condition to registration may be imposed to the effect that the company may carry on only reinsurance business). The Insurance Act uses the defined term “insurance business” to include reinsurance business.

The Insurance Act also grants to the BMA powers to supervise, investigate and intervene in the affairs of insurance companies.

An Insurance Advisory Committee appointed by the Bermuda Minister of Finance advises the BMA on matters connected with the discharge of the BMA’s functions and subcommittees thereof supervise, investigate and review the law and practice of insurance in Bermuda, including reviews of accounting and administrative procedures.

The Insurance Act imposes solvency and liquidity standards on Bermuda insurance companies, as well as auditing and reporting requirements.

Certain significant aspects of the Bermuda insurance regulatory framework applicable to Class 3A insurers and/or Class 3B insurers are set forth below.

Classification of Insurers

The Insurance Act distinguishes between insurers carrying on long-term business, insurers carrying on general business and insurers carrying on special purpose business. There are six classifications of insurers carrying on general business, ranging from Class 1 insurers (pure captives) to Class 4 insurers (large commercial underwriters). Carolina Re is licensed as a Class 3A insurer and JRG Re is licensed as a Class 3B insurer and each is regulated as such under the Insurance Act.

Minimum Paid-Up Share Capital

A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer are each required to maintain fully paid up share capital of at least $120,000.

Principal Representative and Principal Office

A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer are each required to maintain a principal office and to appoint and maintain a principal representative in Bermuda. For the purposes of the Insurance Act, the principal office of Carolina Re and JRG Re is located at Wellesley House, 2 ^nd Floor, 90 Pitts Bay Road, Pembroke, HM 08, Bermuda. Carolina Re’s and JRG Re’s principal representative is Helen Gillis, the Chief Financial Officer of JRG Re.

Without a reason acceptable to the BMA, an insurer may not terminate the appointment of its principal representative, and the principal representative may not cease to act as such, unless 30 days’ prior notice in writing to the BMA is given of the intention to do so.

It is the duty of the principal representative to forthwith notify the BMA where the principal representative reaches the view that there is a likelihood of the insurer (for which the principal representative acts) becoming insolvent, or on it coming to the knowledge of the principal representative, or the principal representative has reasonable grounds for believing, that a reportable “event” has occurred. Examples of a reportable “event” include a failure by the insurer to comply substantially with a condition imposed upon it by the BMA relating to a solvency margin or a liquidity or other ratio, a significant loss reasonably likely to cause the insurer to fail to comply with its enhanced capital requirement (discussed below) and the occurrence of a material change (as such term is defined under the Insurance Act) in its business operations.

Within 14 days of such notification to the BMA, the principal representative must furnish the BMA with a written report setting out all the particulars of the case that are available to the principal representative.

Where there has been a significant loss which is reasonably likely to cause the insurer to fail to comply with its enhanced capital requirement, the principal representative must also furnish the BMA with a capital and solvency return reflecting an enhanced capital requirement prepared using post-loss data. The principal representative must provide this within 45 days of notifying the BMA regarding the loss.

Furthermore, where a notification has been made to the BMA regarding a material change, the principal representative has 30 days from the date of such notification to furnish the BMA with unaudited interim statutory financial statements in relation to such period as the BMA may require, together with a general business solvency certificate in respect of those statements.

Head Office

A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer shall each maintain its head office in Bermuda. In determining whether the insurer satisfies this requirement, the BMA shall consider, inter alia , the following factors: (i) where the underwriting, risk management and operational decision making of the insurer occurs; (ii) whether the presence of senior executives who are responsible for, and involved in, the decision making related to the insurance business of the insurer are located in Bermuda; and (iii) where meetings of the board of directors of the insurer occur. In making its determination, the BMA may also have regard to (a) the location where management of the insurer meets to effect policy decisions of the insurer; (b) the residence of the officers, insurance managers or employees of the insurer; and (c) the residence of one or more directors of the insurer in Bermuda. This provision does not apply to an insurer that has a permit to conduct business in Bermuda under the Companies Act or the Non-Resident Insurance Undertakings Act 1967.

Loss Reserve Specialist

A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer are each required to appoint an individual approved by the BMA to be its loss reserve specialist. In order to qualify as an approved loss reserve specialist, the applicant must be an individual qualified to provide an opinion in accordance with the requirements of the Insurance Act and the BMA must be satisfied that the individual is fit and proper to hold such an appointment.

A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer are each required to submit annually an opinion of its approved loss reserve specialist with its capital and solvency return in respect of its total general business insurance technical provisions (i.e. the aggregate of its net premium provisions, net loss and loss expense provisions and risk margin, as each is reported in the insurer’s statutory economic balance sheet). The loss reserve specialist’s opinion must state, among other things, whether or not the aggregate amount of technical provisions shown in the statutory economic balance sheet as at the end of the relevant financial year (i) meets the requirements of the Insurance Act and (ii) makes reasonable provision for the total technical provisions of the insurer under the terms of its insurance contracts and agreements.

Annual Financial Statements

A Class 3A insurer and Class 3B insurer are each required to prepare and submit to the BMA, on an annual basis, audited financial statements which have been prepared under generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards (“GAAP financial statements”) and audited statutory financial statements.

The Insurance Act prescribes rules for the preparation and substance of statutory financial statements (which include, in statutory form, a balance sheet, an income statement, a statement of capital and surplus and notes thereto). The statutory

financial statements include detailed information and analysis regarding premiums, claims, reinsurance and investments of the insurer.

The insurer’s annual GAAP financial statements, and the auditor’s report thereon, and the statutory financial statements are required to be filed with the BMA within four months from the end of the relevant financial year (unless specifically extended with the approval of the BMA). The statutory financial statements do not form a part of the public records maintained by the BMA but the GAAP financial statements are available for public inspection.

Declaration of Compliance

At the time of filing its statutory financial statements, a Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer are each also required to deliver to the BMA a declaration of compliance, in such form and with such content as may be prescribed by the BMA, declaring whether or not the insurer has, with respect to the preceding financial year (i) complied with all requirements of the minimum criteria applicable to it, (ii) complied with the minimum margin of solvency as at its financial year end, (iii) complied with the applicable enhanced capital requirements as at its financial year end, (iv) complied with applicable conditions, directions and restrictions imposed on, or approvals granted to, the insurer and (v) complied with the minimum liquidity ratio for general business as at its financial year end. The declaration of compliance is required to be signed by two directors of the insurer, and if the insurer has failed to comply with any of the requirements referenced in (i) through (v) above or observe any limitations, restrictions or conditions imposed upon the issuance of its license, if applicable, the insurer will be required to provide the BMA with particulars of such failure in writing. A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer shall be liable to a civil penalty by way of a fine for failure to comply with a duty imposed on it in connection with the delivery of the declaration of compliance.

Annual Statutory Financial Return and Annual Capital and Solvency Return

A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer are each required to file with the BMA a statutory financial return no later than four months after its financial year end (unless specifically extended with the approval of the BMA).

The statutory financial return of an insurer shall consist of (i) an insurer information sheet, (ii) an auditor’s report, (iii) the statutory financial statements and (iv) notes to the statutory financial statements.

The insurer information sheet shall state, among other matters, (i) whether the general purpose financial statements of the insurer for the relevant year have been audited and an unqualified opinion issued, (ii) the minimum margin of solvency applying to the insurer and whether such margin was met, (iii) whether or not the minimum liquidity ratio applying to the insurer for the relevant year was met and (iv) whether or not the insurer has complied with every condition attached to its certificate of registration. The insurer information sheet shall state if any of the questions identified in items (ii), (iii) or (iv) above is answered in the negative, whether or not the insurer has taken corrective action in any case and, where the insurer has taken such action, describe the action in an attached statement.

The directors are required to certify whether the minimum solvency margin has been met, and the independent approved auditor is required to state whether in its opinion it was reasonable for the directors to make this certification.

Where an insurer’s accounts have been audited for any purpose other than compliance with the Insurance Act, a statement to that effect must be filed with the statutory financial return.

In addition, each year the insurer is required to file with the BMA a capital and solvency return along with its annual statutory financial return. The prescribed form of capital and solvency return comprises the insurer’s Bermuda Solvency Capital Requirement (“BSCR”) model or an approved internal capital model in lieu thereof, together with such schedules as prescribed by the Insurance (Prudential Standards) (Class 3A Solvency Requirement) Rules 2011 for Class 3A insurers and the Insurance (Prudential Standards) (Class 4 and 3B Solvency Requirement) Rules 2008 for Class 3B insurers, respectively, as each are amended from time to time.

Neither the statutory financial return nor the capital and solvency return is available for public inspection.

Quarterly Financial Return

A Class 3B insurer, not otherwise subject to group supervision, is required to prepare and file quarterly financial returns with the BMA on or before the last day of the months of May, August and November of each year. The quarterly financial returns consist of (i) quarterly unaudited financial statements for each financial quarter (which must minimally include a balance sheet and income statement and must also be recent and not reflect a financial position that exceeds two months), (ii) a list and details of material intra-group transactions that the Class 3B insurer is a party to and the Class 3B insurer’s risk concentrations that have materialized since the most recent quarterly or annual financial returns, details surrounding all intra-group reinsurance and retrocession arrangements and other intra-group risk transfer insurance business arrangements that have materialized since the most recent quarterly or annual financial returns and (iii) details of the ten largest exposures to

unaffiliated counterparties and any other unaffiliated counterparty exposures exceeding 10% of the Class 3B insurer’s statutory capital and surplus.

Public Disclosures

Pursuant to recent amendments to the Insurance Act, all commercial insurers and insurance groups are required to prepare and file with the BMA, and also publish on their web site, a financial condition report. The BMA has discretion to approve modifications and exemptions to the public disclosure rules on application by the insurer if, among other things, the BMA is satisfied that the disclosure of certain information will result in a competitive disadvantage or compromise confidentiality obligations of the insurer.

Independent Approved Auditor

A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer must each appoint an independent auditor who will audit and report on the insurer’s GAAP financial statements and statutory financial statements, each of which are required to be filed annually with the BMA. The auditor must be approved by the BMA as the independent auditor of the insurer. If the insurer fails to appoint an approved auditor or at any time fails to fill a vacancy for such auditor, the BMA may appoint an approved auditor for the insurer and shall fix the remuneration to be paid to the approved auditor within 14 days, if not agreed sooner by the insurer and the auditor.

Non-insurance Business

No Class 3A insurer or Class 3B insurer may engage in non-insurance business unless that non-insurance business is ancillary to its core business. Non-insurance business means any business other than insurance business and includes carrying on investment business, managing an investment fund as operator, carrying on business as a fund administrator, carrying on banking business, underwriting debt or securities or otherwise engaging in investment banking, engaging in commercial or industrial activities and carrying on the business of management, sales or leasing of real property.

Minimum Liquidity Ratio

The Insurance Act provides a minimum liquidity ratio for general business insurers. A Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer engaged in general business is required to maintain the value of its relevant assets at not less than 75% of the amount of its relevant liabilities. Relevant assets include cash and time deposits, quoted investments, unquoted bonds and debentures, first liens on real estate, investment income due and accrued, accounts and premiums receivable, reinsurance balances receivable, funds held by ceding reinsurers and any other assets which the BMA, on application in any particular case made to it with reasons, accepts in that case.

There are certain categories of assets which, unless specifically permitted by the BMA, do not automatically qualify as relevant assets, such as unquoted equity securities, investments in and advances to affiliates and real estate and collateral loans.

The relevant liabilities are total general business insurance reserves and total other liabilities less deferred income taxes and letters of credit, guarantees and other instruments.

Minimum Solvency Margin and Enhanced Capital Requirements

The Insurance Act provides that the value of the statutory assets of an insurer must exceed the value of its statutory liabilities by an amount greater than its prescribed minimum solvency margin (“MSM”).

The MSM that must be maintained by a Class 3A insurer and a Class 3B insurer with respect to its general business is the greater of (i) $1,000,000, (ii) 20% of the first $6,000,000 of net premiums written (but if the net premiums written are in excess of $6,000,000, the figure is $1,200,000 plus 15% of net premiums written in excess of $6,000,000) or (iii) 15% of the aggregate of net loss and loss expense provisions and other insurance reserves or (iv) 25% of the ECR (as defined below) as reported at the end of the relevant year.

Class 3A insurers and Class 3B insurers are also required to maintain available statutory economic capital and surplus at a level equal to or in excess of its enhanced capital requirement (“ECR”) which is established by reference to either the BSCR model or an approved internal capital model.