Axis Capital Holdings Limited

Good morning and welcome to Axis Capital Third Quarter Earnings Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. If you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be opportunity to ask questions. Please note that this event is being recorded. I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. Matt Wurman, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Nick. 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 third quarter and its September 30th, 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 for the SEC. This includes the 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 supplement. With that, I'll turn the call over to Albert.

Thank you, Matt. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. Our company's performance in recent quarters has been defined by consistency and accelerated momentum in our results, a trend that continued in the third quarter, even in the face of heavy CAT and weather activity. We expect industry CAT losses in the third quarter will exceed $50 billion. And with year-to-date industry natural catastrophe losses already ahead of full year 2020, this year should rank among the top five CAT loss years for the industry. Despite this, AXA has generated net operating income for the quarter. Our operating income is up $66 million in the quarter and $412 million year-to-date as compared to the prior year periods. And our core underwriting profitability is on a strong positive trajectory. Our all-in XCAT underwriting income was up 82% in the quarter to $191 million and year-to-date it's up 56 percent to $518 million. Over the last few years, we've both improved our core XCAT results and reduced our exposure to CAT events, and the results are now evident. This quarter marks the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement in our XCAT combined ratio. Over that period, we've reduced our reported XCAT combined ratio by more than seven points, and it now stands below 88 percent year-to-date. In that same period, we've reduced our PMLs by 25 to 40 percent at various points along the curve to ensure that less of our core XCAD profits are eroded by CAD events. Our modest year-over-year change in CAD losses and lower market share of global CAD events this year reflects our progress in reducing earnings volatility. allowing us to deliver a consolidated underwriting profit in the year-to-date period. I want to highlight the strong performance of our insurance business to illustrate just how far we've come. During the quarter, our insurance business produced 26 percent growth in premiums, reflecting our strong positioning in the attractive ENS and specialty markets. And we're on pace to report record premium production for the second year in a row. We continue to extend our footprint in highly attractive markets that are seeing the most favorable conditions, and we feel good about the pricing and terms that our underwriters are securing. Importantly, this growth came with improvements in profitability, as insurance delivered an underwriting profit in the quarter, and our all-in year-to-date insurance combined ratio is below 93%, even with all the caps incurred this year. This is on the strength of an insurance ex-CAT combined ratio below 85% and a CAT loss ratio of less than 8% in a heavy CAT year. We're confident that we're building one of the better specialty commercial insurance franchises in the industry. Our reinsurance business similarly delivered a strong year-to-date ex-CAT combined ratio of 86%. And with an all-in year-to-date combined ratio of 101.6%, Our reinsurance operations are within reach of generating and underwriting profit for this year. Within our reinsurance business, year-to-date volume has been essentially flat as our team remains focused on increasing profitability and reducing earnings volatility related to catastrophes. Stepping back, our teams remain disciplined, and we are allocating more of our capital to attractive insurance opportunities. Across this company, we have a strong team, and a consistent record of developing and recruiting great talent. And our performance over the last few years tells us that our plan is generating tangible results. And we know exactly what we need to do to sustain this momentum. We will continue to intelligently develop our portfolio while reducing our exposures to catastrophe events. We will further manage expenses, and we will continue to invest in our culture and in our people. These are the actions that have delivered consistent progress over the past three years, and we're confident that they will continue to drive improvements to our performance, our value creation, and delivering attractive returns to our shareholders. I'll now pass the floor to Pete, who will walk us through the third quarter financials. Then I'll come back and discuss market trends, and we'll have our Q&A. Pete?