Top 50 Insurers: HCC International tops 2025 Underwriting Gold Awards

The UK general insurance (UKGI) marketplace continues to be a complex and difficult area in which to operate. Whether it is the ongoing issue of claims inflation or the regulatory glare from the FCA’s spotlight – not forgetting the seemingly ever-present political and geopolitical uncertainties – insurers have a swathe of challenges to overcome.

This is why Insurance Times is delighted to exclusively reveal the winners of the Insurance DataLab Underwriting Gold Awards for 2025, with this year’s cohort of winners once again demonstrating resilience and underwriting excellence in a highly challenging market.

The winners of these awards – which include general insurers based in the UK and Gibraltar, as well as Lloyd’s syndicates – have delivered outstanding results.

The analysis underpinning Insurance DataLab’s underwriting awards is based on three key metrics – underwriting performance over the past 12 months, three‑year underwriting performance and the overall improvement in underwriting performance.

For insurers, this analysis looks at their combined operating ratios (COR), calculated using data from the latest Solvency and Financial Condition Reports, while the analysis for Lloyd’s syndicates is based on their underwriting results relative to gross written premium (GWP), as taken from the most recent syndicate accounts filed at Lloyd’s.

Full details of how Insurance DataLab calculates its scores can be found in the methodology within Insurance Times’ Top 50 Insurers 2025 report.

Rising to the top of the underwriting table for 2025 are a trio of winners led by HCC International, which received the highest underwriting score across the analysed UK‑regulated general insurers with 84%.

Argus Insurance (Europe) was the top rated Gibraltarian insurer with a score of 79%, while Aegis-managed Syndicate 1225 took the top spot at Lloyd’s with an Insurance DataLab underwriting rating of 74%.

HCC International last won an underwriting gold award in 2021 – but this year, the London-headquartered firm has risen to the top of the underwriting ranking for the first time with a COR of 58.9%.

This not only earned the insurer an 82.3% COR rating – the second highest score of this year’s award winners – but by knocking 23.3 percentage points off last year’s 82.2% COR, the insurer received a table topping COR improvement rating of 95%.

But it is not just short-term results that HCC International has excelled at, with the insurer reporting a highly profitable three-year aggregate COR of 74.2% – the second best behind last year’s winner Starr International (Europe) – to pick up a 76.1% rating under this longer-term metric.

Second on Insurance DataLab’s list of the best UK‑regulated insurers for 2025 is Convex UK, with an overall underwriting rating of 81%.

Convex UK’s performance was buoyed by a COR‑based rating of 79% – linked to 67.5% COR reported for 2024/25. This marked a 31 percentage point enhancement compared with the prior year’s financial results, meaning that the insurer also scored highly for COR improvement, achieving 95% from Insurance DataLab for this metric.

When it comes to longer-term results, Convex UK reported a three-year aggregate COR of 83.7%, picking up a 72% score under this metric.

Last year’s UK insurer winner, Starr International (Europe), finished third on the podium in 2025 with an overall underwriting rating of 79%.

Starr International continues to set the pace on two out of three of Insurance DataLab’s pillars, recording an underwriting performance rating and three‑year aggregate COR rating of 86% each – however, a more muted COR improvement rating of 57% meant the insurer was unable to retain its overall crown.

It is worth noting, however, that Starr International has been operating from a position of high underwriting profits for a number of years, which makes improvements harder to come by. The organisation remains one of UKGI’s most consistently profitable carriers, cementing its prominent place among Insurance DataLab’s historic gold award winners.

Beyond the podium places

A highly competitive field sits just behind the top three underwriting performers.

For example, Markel International recorded an overall underwriting rating of 77%, underpinned by a 75% COR – this is down from 95.5% last year, seeing the insurer pick up a highly impressive 85.4% COR improvement rating for 2025.

Ageas Insurance follows with an overall underwriting rating of 75%. This is the product of a balanced set of results, including a 75% underwriting performance rating, a 70% three‑year aggregate COR rating and an 81% COR improvement score. Together, these stats point to disciplined underwriting improvements.

Arch Insurance UK also features in the top half of the table for 2025, with a 72% score – this combines a 71% underwriting performance rating with a 73% three‑year aggregate COR score and a 72% COR improvement rating. This signals steady progress from the insurer.

Ecclesiastical additionally performed well this year, achieving an overall underwriting score of 72%. This is based on a 74% COR rating, 70% three‑year aggregate COR and a COR improvement rating of 69%.

Admiral (UK) rounds off Insurance DataLab’s gold award winners in the UK for 2025 with an overall score of just under 72%, fuelled by a 74% underwriting performance rating and a 72% three‑year aggregate COR score.

Its 67% COR improvement rating, meanwhile, points to a stabilising trajectory after the insurer featured as a gold award winner for the first time last year.

Top of The Rock

When it comes to Gibraltarian insurers, Argus Insurance (Europe) tops the pile for 2025 with an overall underwriting rating of 79%.

The insurer led this territory on two of the three performance pillars, with a COR of 66.6% earning Argus a COR rating of 79%, while a three-year aggregate COR of 75.5% saw it achieve a 76% score under the three-year measure.

Befitting Argus’ table topping performance, the insurer also scored highly compared to its performance last year, knocking more than 14 percentage points off its own COR for an improvement rating of 80% – the second best of all Gibraltarian gold award winners.

Second placed Marshmallow makes its debut as a gold award winner this year, thanks to an overall underwriting rating of 74%. The motor specialist’s rise was powered by a COR improvement rating of 95% as it broke into profitable territory with a COR of 89.3%, down from 130.4% a year earlier.

This profit-making COR earned the insurer a 70% COR rating – however, it was one of just two gold award winners to report a loss-making three-year aggregate COR with a ratio of 138.6%, earning it an Insurance DataLab score of just 62% under the three-year measure.

Third on Insurance DataLab’s list of Gibraltarian gold award winners is Red Sands Insurance (Europe) with an overall score of 70%.

A 71% underwriting performance rating and 68% three‑year aggregate COR score demonstrate solid fundamentals, while a COR improvement rating of 69% shows year‑on‑year gains – albeit at a steadier pace than some of the insurer’s peers.

AA Underwriting was hot on Red Sands’ heels with an overall underwriting rating of 69%. This was based on a 68% COR score and a 64% three-year aggregate COR rating.

The insurer ranked highest in Gibraltar for its COR improvement rating, however, knocking 17.1 percentage points of its COR year-on-year – from 111.9% to 94.8% – for an improvement rating of 77%.

Watford Insurance Company Europe completes 2025’s list of Gibraltar gold award winners with a 67% underwriting score. This combines a 68% underwriting performance rating, 67% three‑year aggregate COR score and a 63% COR improvement rating.

Syndicate successes

The final series of gold awards for 2025 goes to the top performing Lloyd’s syndicates, with seven seeing success this year from Insurance DataLab.

Aegis-managed Syndicate 1225 leads the way with an overall underwriting rating of 74% after it reported an underwriting result of £167.5m from GWP of £880.9m.

The insurer also achieved a £400.8m three-year underwriting result, equating to a score of 73% under this measure, while its improved underwriting performance earned it a 76% improvement rating from Insurance DataLab.

Syndicate 1225 managed to pip Lancashire-managed Syndicate 3010 to the post for prime position here – with Syndicate 3010 achieving an overall underwriting score of just under 74%.

It delivered a 76% underwriting performance rating off the back of a £46.2m underwriting result. The syndicate’s three-year performance score was 72% for 2025, supported by a 72% improvement rating – a balanced display that kept it within touching distance of first place across the syndicates reviewed.

However, Syndicate 2010’s performance makes it two gold awards for Lancashire’s Lloyd’s activties this year – Syndicate 2010 was also able to obtain a 74% overall score from Insurance DataLab.

This was underpinned by 79% scores for both its underwriting and three-year underwriting results – £47.7m and £129.3m respectively – although its marginal increase in profitability over the last 12 months only earned it a 57% improvement rating. This is the lowest of 2025’s gold award winners.

Last year’s winner at Lloyd’s, Beazley’s Syndicate 2623, remains among the frontrunners for 2025 thanks to an overall score of 72%. This includes a 77% underwriting performance rating, a 72% three‑year score and a 64% improvement rating.

The remaining syndicate winners reported scores of 72% - this list features Asta‑managed Syndicate 1988, IQUW-managed Syndicate 218 and Markel-managed Syndicate 3000.