Lemonade Announces Successful Renewal of Reinsurance Program
Lemonade (NYSE: LMND), a digital insurance company leveraging AI and social impact, announced the renewal of its reinsurance program starting July 1, 2024.
Led by tier-one carriers, the program maintains a 55% quota share protection and features variable ceding commissions similar to or better than previous terms. The renewal, oversubscribed on all metrics, spans all Lemonade's businesses globally. CEO Daniel Schreiber highlighted the significance of partnering with top reinsurers and emphasized the program's improved terms and its role in supporting capital-efficient growth.
A new risk-bearing entity, Lemonade Re, was formed in the Cayman Islands last year, and a captive cell in Bermuda was established to manage windstorm exposure. The 12-month term program aligns with Lemonade's financial outlook for Q2 and the entire 2024, as previously communicated in the Q1 '24 Letter to Shareholders.
- Renewal of reinsurance program with tier-one carriers securing 55% quota share protection.
- Oversubscribed reinsurance program indicating high confidence from partners.
- Variable ceding commissions projected to be as good or better than previous agreements.
- Reinsurance structure offers a better cost/benefit profile.
- Financial expectations for Q2 and full year 2024 remain unchanged, implying no immediate financial gain from the new reinsurance terms.
Insights
The renewal of Lemonade’s reinsurance program is a notable event for stakeholders since reinsurance is important for insurance companies to mitigate risk and maintain financial stability. Maintaining a 55% quota share protection ensures that Lemonade continues to share a significant portion of its risk with its reinsurers, which can be reassuring for investors. A quota share treaty means that Lemonade passes on 55% of its premiums and losses to the reinsurers, which helps them manage large claims more effectively and stabilizes cash flow.
What stands out is that the program was oversubscribed, indicating strong confidence from reinsurers in Lemonade’s business model and financial health. This is further emphasized by CEO Daniel Schreiber’s statement, suggesting favorable terms compared to the previous year. By securing reinsurance on better or equivalent terms, Lemonade essentially ensures continued protection without a significant increase in costs, which is a positive indicator for long-term financial performance.
The establishment of Lemonade Re and the captive cell in Bermuda were strategic moves to manage windstorm exposure more effectively. This shows Lemonade’s proactive approach to risk management and cost efficiency, which can be interpreted as favorable by investors.
However, it's important to note that the company's financial guidance for Q2 and FY 2024 remains unchanged. This indicates that while the reinsurance program is beneficial, it doesn't drastically alter the immediate financial outlook.
Lemonade’s ability to renew its reinsurance program with oversubscription from top-tier reinsurers is significant for its operational stability and growth potential. Reinsurance allows Lemonade to leverage external capital to manage its risk exposure efficiently. For a company that relies heavily on technology and AI to streamline operations and reduce costs, having a robust reinsurance program in place is important to backstop potential high-loss events, especially given the unpredictable nature of natural disasters and other large-scale claims.
The creation of Lemonade Re and the captive cell in Bermuda speaks to a growing trend in the insurance industry, where companies are setting up their own reinsurance entities to gain more control over their risk portfolios and achieve cost efficiencies. This structure can potentially offer further savings and flexibility in how Lemonade handles its retained risk, particularly for windstorm exposure.
Furthermore, the ability to secure better terms year-over-year suggests that Lemonade’s performance and risk profile are improving. This sustained confidence from reinsurers could also lead to better pricing and terms in future renewals, enhancing long-term profitability and growth prospects.
For retail investors, this indicates that Lemonade is not only maintaining but also potentially improving its operational risk management framework, which bodes well for the company’s continued expansion and innovation in the digital insurance space.
The program, led by Lemonade’s existing partners, will commence as of July 1, 2024.
The core of the program is
“Partnering once again with the world’s largest and most respected reinsurers who have chosen to stake their capital on the performance of our business is a big deal for Lemonade,” said Daniel Schreiber, Lemonade CEO and cofounder. “Our program renews this year on yet better terms than last year, and was once again oversubscribed. This program allows us to continue to accelerate our growth in a very capital light mode.”
A year ago, Lemonade formed a new risk-bearing entity, Lemonade Re, in the
The new program is in effect for a standard 12-month term. The Company’s financial expectations for Q2 and for the full year 2024, as communicated in the Q1 ‘24 Lemonade Letter to Shareholders, remain unchanged.
About Lemonade
Lemonade offers renters, homeowners, car, pet, and life insurance. Powered by artificial intelligence and social impact, Lemonade’s full stack insurance carriers in the US and the EU replace brokers and bureaucracy with bots and machine learning, aiming for zero paperwork and instant everything. A Certified B-Corp, Lemonade gives unused premiums to nonprofits selected by its community, during its annual Giveback. Lemonade is currently available in
Follow @lemonade_inc on Twitter for updates.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, including the date and time of the earnings call.
These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements expressed or implied to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to the following: our history of losses and that we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future; our success and ability to retain and expand our customer base; the "Lemonade" brand may not become as widely known as incumbents' brands or the brand may become tarnished; the denial of claims or our failure to accurately and timely pay claims; our ability to attain greater value from each user; availability of reinsurance at current levels and prices; our exposure to counterparty risks; our limited operating history; our ability to manage our growth effectively; our proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms may not operate properly or as expected; the intense competition in the segments of the insurance industry in which we operate; our ability to maintain our risk-based capital at the required levels; our ability to expand our product offerings; the novelty of our business model and its unpredictable efficacy and susceptibility to unintended consequences; the possibility that we could be forced to modify or eliminate our Giveback; regulatory risks, related to the operation, development, and implementation of our proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms and telematics based pricing model; legislation or legal requirements that may affect how we communicate with customers; the cyclical nature of the insurance industry; our reliance on artificial intelligence, telematics, mobile technology, and our digital platforms to collect data that we utilize in our business; our ability to obtain additional capital to the extent required to grow our business, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all; our actual or perceived failure to protect customer information and other data as a result of security incidents or real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our systems, website or app, respect customers’ privacy, or comply with data privacy and security laws and regulations; periodic examinations by state insurance regulators; underwriting risks accurately and charging competitive yet profitable rates to customers; our ability to underwrite risks accurately and charge competitive yet profitable rates to our customers; potentially significant expenses incurred in connection with any new products before generating revenue from such products; risks associated with any costs incurred and other risks as we expand our business in the
These and other important factors are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 filed on February 28, 2024, our 10-Q filed on May 1, 2024 and in our other subsequent filings with the SEC, these factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s beliefs as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
NEWS & INFORMATION DISCLOSURE
Investors should note that we may use our website (investor.lemonade.com), blog (lemonade.com/blog), Twitter (@Lemonade_Inc), and LinkedIn as a means of disclosing information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. The information we post through these channels may be deemed material. Investors should monitor these channels in addition to reviewing our press releases, SEC filings, and public conference calls.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240701562175/en/
Natalie Wilson, press@lemonade.com
Source: Lemonade
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