As per the latest estimates of Syndicate Research Limited (SRL), the weighted average result as a percentage of Net Premium Earned (NPE), excluding Funds in Syndicate (FIS) investment returns, for Lloyd’s of London syndicates trading in 2025, stood at an above-average 18.8%.
The ratio not only marked an improvement on 2024’s 18%, but it also compared favourably with the five- and nine-year averages of 14.5% and 7.9%, respectively.
“There continues to be a significant performance difference at an individual syndicate level, with the best and worst results for 2025 +81% and -18%. Syndicates’ combined ratios averaged 85.7%, significantly below the nine-year average of 96.2%, with performance in 2025 benefiting from a relatively small US hurricane impact, which especially enhanced the results of Excess of Loss syndicates,” SRL stated.
The 2025 syndicate results of Lloyd’s, the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance marketplace, also benefited from above-average investment returns, which, excluding FIS, averaged 7.7% NPE compared with a nine-year average of 3.5%.
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According to SRL, the primary fixed-income portfolios of syndicates have benefited from relatively high-interest-rate yields.
“The standard deviation of the investment returns was relatively high at 4.6%, illustrating the differences in both investment portfolio mixes and the level of reserve gearing. Investment returns are likely to assume a greater significance in 2026 against a backdrop of (re)insurance price decreases and declining rate adequacy at a market level,” SRL noted.
Syndicates’ combined ratios averaged 85.7%, significantly below the nine-year average of 96.2%. The 2025 performance also benefited from relatively limited weather (hurricane) activity in the United States, which supported Excess of Loss (XoL) syndicates. These syndicates at Lloyd’s specialise in non-proportional reinsurance, covering claims exceeding a specific retention threshold set by ceding insurers, instead of sharing a percentage of all losses.
Talking in detail about the XoL’s performance, SRL noted, “In 2025, the top performing syndicate was 1176, which, in the absence of a nuclear disaster, has consistently produced large profits. The rest of the top five are within SRL’s Excess of Loss peer group and benefited from the absence of any major US hurricane losses. The weighted-average profit in 2025 for this peer group is 49%, far higher than the average of 18.8%, but results on a return-on-capital basis will be appreciably lower, with their higher-risk portfolios leading to higher capital requirements. The bottom five performers, all loss-making bar one, are relatively recent starters with three trading from 2024, one from 2023 and one from Q3 2020.”
SRL’s estimates also noted elevated investment return volatility, with a standard deviation of 4.6%, reflecting differences in investment portfolio composition and reserve gearing levels.
“Investment returns are likely to assume a greater significance in 2026 against a backdrop of (re)insurance price decreases and declining rate adequacy at a market level,” SRL concluded.