A letter from Pina Albo
At Hamilton, we are proud to have dynamic, sophisticated, and talented colleagues, who are focused on building a company that benefits of all our stakeholders. In this context, we are committed, both as underwriters and as global citizens, to applying our business strengths to make a meaningful impact on society.
Events over the last several years have served as a powerful reminder of the importance of acting responsibly, protecting our social fabric and the natural environment. Hamilton has a rich history of social and corporate responsibility, as well as a commitment to environmental sustainability. Since our inception, we have acted responsibly and collaborated with others who share our goals of accelerating and improving our industry, and our employees have rallied behind programmes aimed at serving the communities in which we live and work.
We’re building a global, diversified, specialty insurance and reinsurance company that embraces data science and technology on both sides of the balance sheet to create superior shareholder value over the long term. In pursuit of this goal, we uphold four values that shape the way we build our team, the way we work and, ultimately, the way we will prosper.
Be smart. Be sensible. Be open. Be more.
We anchor our actions in these values, which in turn support our ESG commitments.
Our ESG strategy helps us minimise and avoid risks, investments and actions that are contrary to our values and to being a responsible global citizen.
Making a difference is a part of Hamilton’s DNA, and our ESG tenets inform how we operate. We treat our ESG goals no differently than other vital business imperatives; as such we focus on areas where we can deliver the biggest impact and with a view to continuous improvement. Our ESG philosophy is a living one, which will allow us to set a responsible example, drive sustainable outcomes and leave a positive impact on society.
Sincerely,
Pina Albo
CEO, Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd.
Our approach to ESG
Hamilton strives to be a responsible (re)insurer in all aspects of its operations and business practices by considering and recognising the impact to society and communities, the environment and climate change for current and future generations and for all its stakeholders.
We have a four-pillar approach to ESG:
Accountability
We recognise our responsibility as a global corporate citizen and our accountability to our stakeholders: our investors, employees, communities, regulatory and ratings agencies, clients, vendors, and business partners.
We believe having a focus on good governance and oversight provides the best outcome for our stakeholders. Our commitment to implementing, monitoring and evolving our ESG strategy is critical to our success in building a strong, durable company.
I am proud to be at the forefront of Hamilton’s sustainability efforts, building financial resilience through the creation of long-term value as we deliver on our strategy of building a global, diversified specialty insurance and reinsurance company.
Craig Howie
Chief Financial Officer,
Hamilton Insurance Group Ltd.
Oxbow Report
Hamilton participated in a landmark report launched by Oxbow Partners at the 2022 Bermuda Climate Risk Summit that assessed the maturity of ESG in the Bermudian (re)insurance market.
The report concluded that the Bermudian insurance industry genuinely wants to make an impact on ESG matters rather than just ticking the boxes or responding to outside pressures.
External Assessment
Partnering with the Apex ESG Ratings and Advisory team, Hamilton has undertaken the first ever assessment of its ESG position and carbon footprint. Benchmarked against other financial services companies, we received scoring as well as recommendations for areas of improvement.
ESG Score
Hamilton was assessed by Apex to be significantly ahead of the sector benchmark overall, demonstrating a good level of ESG integration within our operations and business practices.
Social Impact
Hamilton supports its employees and the communities it serves and will continue to promote equality, diversity, and non-discriminatory practices.
Our culture
Based on our regular surveys and informal feedback, our employees agree that we have an inclusive and entrepreneurial culture, underpinned by teamwork and collaboration. Our flat hierarchy offers opportunities for our people who want to ‘move the needle’, take ownership and embrace accountability.
Daniel Fisher
Group Head of HR, Communications
and Culture, Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd.
In good company.
This declares our promise to everyone we interact with. We believe we are enriched by one another’s attitudes, experiences and knowledge. Our colleagues share a passion for service and results.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Open minds open doors: this is our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We believe that by welcoming and respecting differences, we'll attract and retain the best talent and benefit from diverse experiences and perspectives.
Gemma Carreiro
General Counsel, Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd.,
Chair, DEI Working Group
Learn more about careers at Hamilton on the Working at Hamilton page.
Underwriting
Hamilton is a responsible underwriter. We embed thoughtful risk management and assessment practices into our decision-making and build relationships with similarly-minded clients, organizations and developing nations, including those investing in alternative energy solutions and transitioning to greener footprints.
Hamilton has introduced ESG guidelines for all lines of insurance, where particular focus is given to businesses that could have an adverse environmental or social impact.
Hamilton looks to support businesses that can make a positive impact to people’s daily living conditions, such as those that facilitate access to clean water, electricity or healthcare, particularly in developing countries.
One of the core products Hamilton provides is catastrophe re/insurance. We protect millions of individuals and companies around the world and help communities rebuild post disaster.
Megan Thomas
CEO, Hamilton Re, Ltd.,
Executive Lead for ESG
Social Responsibility
Hamilton takes its commitment to support society and communities seriously; be it through the individuals or entities that we partner with or the products that we offer, Hamilton believes it has a duty to act in a responsible manner and support society as a whole. Hamilton partners with like-minded entities and actively supports efforts that benefit the wider society.
- We offer products that assist communities in recovering from adverse environmental impacts after natural catastrophe events, such as environmental damage from petroleum products
- We support NGO’s in conflict zones and humanitarian activities
- We facilitated covid vaccine manufacture and distribution
Alternative Energy
Through its various lines of business, Hamilton has multiple touch points supporting continued efforts to expand and develop renewable, alternative and greener energy efforts.
Through the insurance products it offers to existing alternative energy operations or the support it provides to clients developing new technologies and transitioning to greener footprints, Hamilton actively aids global efforts to decarbonise.
- We provide insurance that assists in the facilitation of various projects, such as windfarms, solar and geothermal sources of energy
Climate Change
Changing environmental conditions are embedded into Hamilton’s view of risk and our approach to risk taking.
Natural catastrophes have a severe impact on communities and economies. Hamilton provides significant levels of capital to exposed policyholders to facilitate the rebuilding of homes, companies and communities in the event of a natural catastrophe.
Hamilton also provides insurance products that support decarbonization in an effort to positively influence long-term impacts of climate change.
Our view of risk
Hamilton believes in making data-based underwriting decisions.
HARP (Hamilton Analytics and Risk Platform) is a comprehensive cat modelling, portfolio accumulation and reporting framework that allows Hamilton to systematically assess catastrophe risk across the Group in near-real-time. HARP is one of the most advanced systems in the industry, allowing us to manage our capital across a 200,000 iteration stochastic simulation on a multi-year forward looking perspective accounting for:
- variations in the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO);
- perils in regions where third-party vendors do not provide models or the models do not adequately capture the risk;
- secondary uncertainty in the outcome of any single event by resampling the vendor models we base our simulations on and providing a expanded range of outcomes to measure our risk; and
- severity loads to account for widely recognized model biases and client specific factors.
We have generally taken a conservative approach to the impact of climate level atmospheric conditions to manage our capital and in 2017 we introduced a comprehensive framework to allow us to dynamically monitor multiple peril frequency schemes. This framework allows us to monitor the impact of increased frequency of major hurricanes in the North Atlantic in a comprehensive fashion and have confidence that we would still be able to pay claims in the future – our ultimate contract with society.
Investments
Hamilton deploys its invested capital responsibly. Investment decisions are driven by Board-established processes and guidelines, and are monitored regularly to evaluate alignment of our holdings with our corporate values.
Fixed Income Portfolios
Hamilton’s fixed income investment portfolios meet or exceed benchmark performance across key ESG measures, including their carbon intensity footprint. Our current investment guidelines have created an investment profile with minimal exposure to coal and oil sands, the defense industry and weapons manufacture.
We receive regular ESG reporting from our asset managers, who are signatories to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment.
Two Sigma Hamilton Fund
Hamilton’s investment in the Two Sigma Hamilton Fund is subject to the ESG practices established by Two Sigma (“TS”), the investment manager, under the general theme of sustainability.
TS is currently exploring the expansion of ESG datasets within its investment strategies. Hundreds of ESG datasets have been through initial screening and evaluation by modelling teams to assess the history and quality of the information available. TS embeds ESG risk factors in select risk models, with the intent of expanding this approach more broadly as the current limitations of ESG datasets improve.
TS has also expanded its relationship with ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services) to utilize ISS’ Sustainability Proxy Voting Guidelines, effective February 2022, and continues to monitor and reference aspects of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment in its internal framework.