Axis Capital Holdings Limited

Good day and welcome to the Access Capital first quarter 2021 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please also note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Matt Rohrman, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Carrie. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm happy to welcome you to our conference call to discuss the financial results for Axis Capital for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. Our next press release and financial supplement were issued yesterday evening after the market closed. If you'd like copies, please visit the investor information section of our website at AxisCapital.com. We set aside an hour for today's call, which is also available as an audio webcast found in the investor information section of our website. With me today are Albert Benchimol, our president and CEO, and Pete Vogt, our CFO. Before I turn the call over to Albert, I'll remind everyone that the statements made during this call, including the question and answer session, which are not historical facts, may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Actual events or results may differ materially, from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including the risk factors set forth in the company's most recent report on Form 10-K and other reports the company files with the SEC. This includes additional risks identified in the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements in our earnings press release issued yesterday evening. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. In addition, this presentation may contain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations are included in our earnings press release and financial supplements. With that, I'll turn the call over to Albert.

Thank you, Matt. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. Notwithstanding a record first quarter for U.S. weather events, for Axis, 2021 is off to a promising start. Our consolidated current year XCAT loss ratio of 55, XCAT combined ratio of 89, and sub-99 all-in combined ratio all provide solid additional data points indicating that our work to reposition our business is delivering a portfolio that is both more profitable and more resilient than that of prior years. And it appears that our momentum is only accelerating. This represents the seventh quarter in the last nine that we've delivered improvements in our core and reading performance, highlighting a clear positive trend in our results. Our insurance business is firing on all cylinders, taking advantage of attractive market conditions to grow gross premiums written by 17%, delivering an ex-CAT combined ratio of 88 with a two-point reduction in each of the attritional loss and expense ratios. Even the CAT loss ratio showed good progress at less than six points to bring our all-in insurance combined ratio to below 94. In addition, our reinsurance team is contributing equally to our progress with continued underwriting discipline and portfolio management emphasizing enhanced profitability and managing volatility. Our reinsurance current year ex-CAT combined ratio improved again to 85, allowing us to absorb the U.S. winter storm losses and still reported a 100 all-in combined ratio. I'm confident that our continuing improvements to the portfolio will lead to increased profitability and further reduce our vulnerability to CAT events. We've added and continued to hire strong underwriting talent to bolster our efforts to drive profitable growth, and we feel very good about our team, our culture, and our consistent ability to attract top-caliber talent. We've worked very hard to get to this point. There's a strong sense of optimism throughout the organization, and we're excited about the future. I'll pass the floor to Pete, who will walk us through the first quarter financials. Then I'll come back to discuss market trends, and we'll have our Q&A. Pete?