AXIS CAPITAL HOLDINGS LTD (AXS) Business

ITEM 1.    BUSINESS

In this Form 10-K, references to "AXIS Capital" refer to AXIS Capital Holdings Limited and references to "we", "us", "our", "AXIS", the "Group" or the "Company" refer to AXIS Capital Holdings Limited and its direct and indirect subsidiaries and branches, including: AXIS Specialty Holdings Bermuda Limited, AXIS Specialty Limited ("AXIS Specialty Bermuda"), AXIS Specialty Limited (Singapore Branch), AXIS Specialty Insurance Limited ("AXIS Specialty Insurance Bermuda"), AXIS Specialty Investments Limited, AXIS Specialty Investments II Limited, AXIS Specialty UK Holdings Limited, AXIS Managing Agency Ltd., AXIS Corporate Capital UK Limited, Novae Group Limited, AXIS UK Services Limited, AXIS UK Services Limited (Irish Branch), AXIS Underwriting Limited, AXIS Corporate Capital UK II Limited (sole corporate member of AXIS Syndicate 1686 ("Syndicate 1686") effective January 1, 2025 and sole corporate member of AXIS Energy Transition Syndicate 2050 ("Syndicate 2050")), AXIS ILS, Ltd., AXIS Reinsurance Managers Limited ("AXIS Reinsurance Managers"), AXIS Specialty Holdings Ireland Limited, AXIS Specialty Europe SE ("AXIS Specialty Europe"), AXIS Specialty Europe SE (UK Branch), AXIS Specialty Europe SE (Belgium Branch), AXIS Re SE, AXIS Re SE, Dublin (Zurich Branch) ("AXIS Re Europe"), AXIS Re SE Escritório de Representação No Brasil Ltda., AXIS Specialty Global Holdings Limited, AXIS Specialty U.S. Holdings, Inc., AXIS Reinsurance Company ("AXIS Re U.S."), AXIS Reinsurance Company (Canadian Branch), AXIS Specialty U.S. Services, Inc., AXIS Specialty U.S. Services, Inc. (U.K. Branch), AXIS Specialty Canada Services, ULC, AXIS Group Services, Inc., AXIS ILS, Inc., AXIS Insurance Company ("AXIS Insurance Co."), AXIS Surplus Insurance Company ("AXIS Surplus"), AXIS Group Benefits LLC, AXIS Specialty Insurance Company ("AXIS Specialty U.S."), AXIS Specialty Finance LLC and AXIS Specialty Finance PLC, unless the context suggests otherwise.

Unless otherwise noted, tabular dollars are in thousands. Amounts may not reconcile due to rounding differences.

General

AXIS is a global specialty underwriter and provider of insurance and reinsurance solutions with operations in Bermuda, the United States ("U.S."), Europe, Singapore, and Canada. Our underwriting operations are organized around our global underwriting platforms, AXIS Insurance and AXIS Re.

The markets in which we operate have historically been cyclical. During periods of reduced underwriting capacity, pricing, and policy terms and conditions are generally more favorable for insurers and reinsurers. Conversely, during periods of excess underwriting capacity, defined by the availability of capital, competition can result in lower pricing and less favorable policy terms and conditions for insurers and reinsurers. Historically, underwriting capacity has been impacted by a range of factors, including systemic risks such as industry losses and catastrophes, as well as changes in legal, regulatory and rating agency guidelines, investment results, and the financial strength and ratings of competitors.

In 2025, we grew in a number of attractive specialty lines insurance and reinsurance markets and we continued to re-balance our portfolio towards highly targeted specialty lines. At December 31, 2025, we had common shareholders’ equity of $5.8 billion, total capital of $7.7 billion and total assets of $34.5 billion.

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Our Business Strategy

We are a global specialty underwriter and provider of insurance and reinsurance solutions and are a leader in many of the markets where we choose to compete. We provide our clients and distribution partners with a broad range of risk transfer products and services, and strong capacity, backed by excellent financial strength. We manage our portfolio holistically, aiming to construct the optimum balance of risks, consistent with our risk appetite and the development of our franchise. We nurture an ethical, entrepreneurial, disciplined and inclusive culture that promotes outstanding client service, intelligent risk taking, operating efficiency and the achievement of superior risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. We believe that the achievement of our objectives will further position us as a global specialty underwriting leader, enabling us to deliver sustained profitable growth and increased shareholder value.

We aim to execute on our business strategy through the following multi-pronged approach:

We offer a diversified range of products and services across market segments and geographies: Our position as a global specialty underwriter and provider of insurance and reinsurance solutions gives us insight into the opportunities and challenges in a variety of markets. We are headquartered in Bermuda and have operations in the U.S., Canada, and Europe including Dublin, London, Zurich and Brussels, and Singapore. We service the Latin America specialty insurance and reinsurance market through London and our other locations. In addition, we provide specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions to the Asia Pacific region through our London, Zurich and Bermuda offices.

We underwrite a balanced portfolio of risks deploying capital within risk limits, diversification criteria and risk management strategy: Risk management is a strategic priority embedded in our organizational structure and we are continuously monitoring, reviewing, and refining our enterprise risk management practices. We combine judgment and experience with data-driven analysis, enhancing our overall risk selection process.

We modulate our risk appetite and deployment of capital across the underwriting cycle, commensurate with available market opportunities and returns: In response to market dynamics, we recognize opportunities as they develop and react quickly as new trends emerge. Our risk analytics provide important and continuous feedback, further assisting with the ongoing assessment of our risk appetite and strategic capital deployment. We have been successful in adding new underwriting teams, extending our product lines, finding new distribution channels and entering new markets. When we do not find sufficiently attractive uses for our capital, we may return excess capital to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.

We develop and maintain deep, trusting and mutually beneficial relationships with clients and distribution partners, offering high levels of service and effective solutions for risk management needs: Our management team has extensive industry experience, deep product knowledge, long-standing market relationships and a top caliber claims capability. We primarily transact in specialty markets, where risks are complex. We invest in data and technology and are leveraging AI capabilities and tools to empower our underwriters and enhance the service that we provide to our customers. Our intellectual capital and proven client-service capability attracts customers and distribution partners looking for solutions.

We maintain excellent financial strength, characterized by financial discipline and transparency: Our total capital of $7.7 billion at December 31, 2025 as well as our high-quality and liquid investment portfolio and our operating subsidiary ratings of "A+" ("Strong") by Standard & Poor's and "A" ("Excellent") by the A.M. Best Company, Inc. ("A.M. Best") are key indicators of our financial strength.

We attract, develop, retain and motivate teams of experts: We aim to attract and retain top talent in the industry and to motivate our employees to make decisions that are in the best interest of our clients and shareholders. We foster a culture that prioritizes ethics, risk awareness and achievement, while also promoting professionalism, responsibility, integrity, discipline, inclusion and entrepreneurship. As a result, we believe that our staff is well-positioned to make the best underwriting and strategic decisions for AXIS.

Our key financial metrics for measurement of performance based compensation include operating return on average common equity ("operating ROACE"), which is reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measure, return on average common equity ("ROACE"), in Item 7 'Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Non-GAAP Financial Measures Reconciliation', on an annual basis, as well as relative total shareholder return and adjusted book value per diluted common share ("Adjusted DBVPS") over the long term. Adjusted DBVPS represents average annual growth in book value per diluted common share, generally adjusted for dividends, unrealized investment gains (losses) recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and share repurchases. Across the Group, we are focused on realizing our ambition to be the leading specialty underwriter, while continuing to consistently deliver profitable growth and increased shareholder value.

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Segment Information

Our underwriting operations are organized around our global underwriting platforms, AXIS Insurance and AXIS Re. We have determined that we have two reportable segments, insurance and reinsurance. We do not allocate assets by segment, with the exception of goodwill and intangible assets.

Refer to Item 7 'Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations' for further details on our reportable segments and Item 8, Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Segment Information' for further details on our reportable segments and a description of the geographic distribution of gross premiums written based on the location of our subsidiaries.

The table below presents gross premiums written in each of our reportable segments for each of the most recent three years:

Insurance Segment

Lines of Business and Distribution

Our insurance segment offers specialty insurance products to a variety of niche markets on a worldwide basis. The following are the lines of business in our insurance segment:

•Professional Lines: provides directors’ and officers’ liability, errors and omissions liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, crime, professional indemnity, medical malpractice, environmental liability risks predominantly in the U.S. wholesale markets and other financial insurance related covers for public and private commercial enterprises, financial institutions, not-for-profit organizations and other professional service providers. This business is predominantly written on a claims-made basis.

•Property: provides physical loss or damage, business interruption and machinery breakdown cover for virtually all types of property, including commercial buildings, residential premises, construction projects, property in transit, onshore renewable energy installations, and physical damage and business interruption following an act of terrorism. This line of business includes primary and excess risks, some of which are catastrophe-exposed.

•Liability: provides cover for primary and low to mid-level excess and umbrella commercial liability, life sciences excess liability, and primary and excess of loss employers, public, and U.K. products liability business. Target industry sectors include construction, manufacturing, transportation and trucking, and other services.

•Cyber: provides cover for cyber liability, technology errors and omissions, media and miscellaneous professional liability. Cover is provided for a range of risks including data security breach and privacy liability, cyber-crime, liability and regulatory actions, business interruption, cyber extortion and reputational harm, and liability covers for media and miscellaneous professional matters.

•Marine and Aviation: Marine provides cover for a range of exposures including offshore energy, offshore renewable energy, ocean marine, liability including kidnap and ransom, fine art, specie, and hull war. Offshore energy coverages include physical damage, business interruption, operator's extra expense and liability coverage for all aspects of offshore upstream energy, from exploration and construction through the operation and distribution phases. Aviation provides hull and liability, and specific war cover primarily for passenger airlines but also for cargo operations, general aviation operations, airports, aviation authorities, security firms and product manufacturers.

•Accident and Health: includes personal accident, travel insurance and specialty health products for employer and affinity groups, and pet insurance.

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•Credit and Political Risk: provides credit and political risk insurance products for banks, commodity traders, corporations, and multilateral and export credit agencies. Cover is provided for a range of risks including sovereign and corporate credit default, political violence, currency inconvertibility and non-transfer, expropriation, aircraft non-repossession and contract frustration due to political events. Surety bonds are also provided to large corporate and commercial clients, and to mid to large sized construction clients.

We produce business primarily through wholesale and retail brokers worldwide. Some of our insurance products are also distributed through managing general agents ("MGAs") and managing general underwriters ("MGUs"). In the U.S., we have the ability to write business on an admitted basis using forms and rates filed with state insurance regulators and on a non-admitted or surplus lines basis, which provides flexibility in forms and rates, as these are not filed with state regulators. Our ability to write business on a non-admitted basis in the U.S. provides us with the pricing flexibility needed to write non-standard coverages. Substantially all of our insurance business is subject to aggregate limits, in addition to event limits.

Gross premiums written by broker, shown individually where premiums by broker were 10% or more of the total in any of the last three years, were as follows:

(1) Includes gross premiums written by MGAs and MGUs that are not affiliated to brokers who produced 10% or more of the total gross premiums written in any of the last three years.

No insured accounted for more than 10% of the gross premiums written in the insurance segment.

Competitive Environment

In our insurance segment, where competition is focused on price, service, availability of capacity, appetite and distribution, among other considerations, we compete globally and locally with North American and other carriers. We believe we can achieve positive differentiation through underwriting expertise in our chosen lines of business and market segments, providing customized solutions for our strategic partners and top caliber claims service levels to our customers. In addition, our investment in building an agile business model is expected to enable us to more quickly bring innovative products and services to market while delivering value to our customers and driving profitable growth, as evidenced by the sustained positive momentum behind AXIS’ new and expanded businesses.

Reinsurance Segment

Lines of Business and Distribution

Our reinsurance segment provides reinsurance to insurance companies on a worldwide basis, written on an excess of loss or a proportional basis. For excess of loss business, we typically indemnify the reinsured for a portion of losses, individually and in the aggregate, in excess of a specified individual or aggregate loss deductible. For proportional business, we assume an agreed percentage of the underlying premiums and accept liability for the same percentage of losses and loss expenses.

Our business is primarily produced through reinsurance brokers worldwide. The following are the lines of business in our reinsurance segment:

•Liability: provides protection to insurers of admitted casualty business, excess and surplus lines casualty business and specialty casualty programs. The primary focus of the underlying business is general liability, workers' compensation, auto liability, environmental liability, and excess casualty. This business is written on a proportional and excess of loss basis.

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•Professional Lines: provides protection for directors’ and officers’ liability, employment practices liability, medical malpractice, professional indemnity, cyber and miscellaneous errors and omissions insurance risks. The underlying business is predominantly written on a claims-made basis. This business is written on a proportional and excess of loss basis.

•Motor: provides protection to insurers for motor liability and motor property damage losses arising out of any one occurrence. A loss occurrence can involve one or many claimants where the ceding insurer aggregates the claims from the occurrence. Traditional non-proportional and proportional reinsurance as well as structured solutions are offered predominantly relating to European exposures.

•Accident and Health: includes personal accident, specialty health, accidental death, travel, life, disability and pet reinsurance products which are offered on a proportional and catastrophic or per life excess of loss basis.

•Credit and Surety: Credit reinsurance provides protection for trade credit insurance, and credit and political risk insurance. Trade credit insurance protects sellers of goods and services in the event of a non-payment by the buyer of those goods and services. Credit and political risk insurance covers a range of risks predominantly corporate and sovereign non-payment. Surety reinsurance provides protection for losses arising from a broad array of surety bonds issued by insurers to satisfy regulatory demands, contract, and commercial obligations in a variety of jurisdictions around the world. Mortgage reinsurance is provided to mortgage guaranty insurers, U.S. government-sponsored entities and other mortgage market participants. These entities seek to manage their credit risk exposure emanating from defined pools of mortgage loans.

•Agriculture: provides protection for risks associated with the production of food and fiber on a global basis for primary insurance companies writing multi-peril crop insurance, crop hail, and named peril covers, as well as custom risk transfer mechanisms for agricultural dependent industries with exposures to crop or livestock yield and/or price deviations. This business is written on a proportional and aggregate stop loss reinsurance basis.

•Marine and Aviation: Marine includes specialty marine exposures such as cargo, hull, pleasure craft, marine liability, inland marine and offshore energy. The principal perils covered by policies in this portfolio include physical loss, damage and/or liability arising from natural perils of the seas or land, man-made events including fire and explosion, stranding/sinking/salvage, pollution, shipowners and maritime employers liability. This business is written on a non-proportional and proportional basis. Aviation provides cover for airline, aerospace and general aviation exposures. This business is written on a proportional and non-proportional basis. The Company exited Aviation business effective January 1, 2023.

Run-off lines

•Catastrophe: provides protection for most catastrophic losses that are covered in the underlying insurance policies written by our cedants. The underlying policies principally cover property-related exposures but other exposures including personal accident are also covered. The principal perils covered by policies in this portfolio include hurricane and windstorm, earthquake, flood, tornado, hail and fire. In some instances, terrorism may be a covered peril or the only peril. This business is written on a proportional and an excess of loss basis. The Company exited this line of business in June 2022.

•Property: provides protection for property damage and related losses resulting from natural and man-made perils that are covered in the underlying personal and commercial lines insurance policies written by our cedants. The predominant exposure is to property damage, but other risks, including business interruption and other non-property losses, may also be covered when arising from a covered peril. The most significant perils covered by policies in this portfolio include windstorm, tornado and earthquake, but other perils such as freezes, riots, flood, industrial explosions, fire, hail and a number of other loss events are also included. This business is written on a proportional and excess of loss basis. The Company exited this line of business in June 2022.

•Engineering: provides protection for all types of construction risks and risks associated with erection, testing and commissioning of machinery and plants during the construction stage. This line of business also includes cover for losses arising from operational failures of machinery, plant and equipment, and electronic equipment as well as business interruption. The Company exited this line of business in 2020.

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Gross premiums written by broker, shown individually where premiums by broker were 10% or more of the total in any of the last three years, were as follows:

No cedant accounted for more than 10% of the gross premiums written in the reinsurance segment.

Competitive Environment

In our reinsurance segment, competition tends to be focused on availability, service, financial strength and price. We compete with major North American and other reinsurers and reinsurance departments of numerous multi-line insurance organizations in our targeted specialty reinsurance lines of business. In addition to traditional market participants, we also compete with new market entrants supported by alternative capital sources offering risk transfer solutions on a collateralized or other non-traditional basis. Our clients may also acquire reinsurance protection through capital market products such as catastrophe bonds and insurance loss warranties. We believe that we achieve a competitive advantage through our diversified global product offerings, responsiveness to customer needs and ability to provide sophisticated and innovative products. We offer excellent claims management, strong financial strength ratings and an ability to leverage our balance sheet and relationships with strategic capital partners to provide strong capacity.

Cash and Investments

We seek to balance the investment portfolio's objectives of increasing book value with the generation of relatively stable investment income, while providing sufficient liquidity to meet our claims and other obligations. Liquidity needs arising from potential claims are of primary importance and are considered in asset class participation and the asset allocation process. A significant portion of our investment portfolio is dedicated to investment grade fixed maturities that will generate cash flows that match expected claim payouts.

To diversify risk and optimize the growth in book value, we may invest in other asset classes such as equity securities, high yield securities and alternative investments (e.g., private equity funds), which provide higher potential total rates of return. These individual investment classes involve varying degrees of risk, including the potential for more volatile returns and reduced liquidity. However, as part of a balanced portfolio, they also provide diversification from interest rate and credit risk.

With regard to our investment portfolio, we primarily utilize third-party investment managers for security selection and trade execution functions, subject to guidelines and objectives for each asset class. This enables us to actively manage our investment portfolio with access to top performers specializing in various products and markets. We select managers based on various criteria including investment style, performance history and corporate governance. In addition, we monitor approved investment asset classes for each subsidiary through analysis of our operating environment, including expected volatility of cash flows, overall capital position, regulatory and rating agency considerations. The Finance Committee of our Board of Directors approves overall group asset allocation ranges and investment policy to ensure that they are consistent with our overall goals, strategies and objectives. We also have an Investment and Finance Committee, comprised of members of our senior management team, which oversees the implementation of our investment strategy.

Refer to Item 7 'Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Cash and Investments' and Item 8, Note 5 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Investments' for further details on our investment portfolio.

Refer to 'Risk and Capital Management' for further details on management of investment risk.

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REGULATION

General

Our insurance and reinsurance entities are regulated in most countries, although the degree and type of regulation varies significantly from one jurisdiction to another. We may become subject to regulation in new jurisdictions or to additional regulations in existing jurisdictions. To the extent we are aware of impending changes in regulation, our project teams prepare us to comply with such anticipated changes on a timely basis. The following describes the current material regulations under which the Company operates.

Bermuda

Our Bermuda insurance operating subsidiary, AXIS Specialty Bermuda, is a Class 4 general business insurer subject to the Insurance Act 1978, amendments thereto and related regulations of Bermuda ("Insurance Act"). AXIS Specialty Bermuda has reinsurance permissions in China and the Netherlands.

In addition, AXIS Specialty Insurance Bermuda was incorporated on August 19, 2024 as a Bermuda exempt company, and was licensed on December 17, 2024 as a Class 4 insurer under the Insurance Act.

The Insurance Act provides that no person may carry on any insurance or reinsurance business in or from within Bermuda unless registered as an insurer by the Bermuda Monetary Authority ("BMA") under the Insurance Act. The Insurance Act imposes upon Bermuda insurance companies' solvency and liquidity standards, and auditing and reporting requirements, and grants the BMA powers to supervise, investigate, require information and demand the production of documents and intervene in the affairs of insurance companies.

Significant requirements pertaining to Class 4 insurers include the appointment of an independent auditor, the appointment of a loss reserve specialist, the appointment of a principal representative in Bermuda, the filing of annual Statutory Financial Returns together with annual GAAP financial statements and an annual Capital and Solvency Return, compliance with minimum and enhanced capital requirements, together with certain restrictions on reductions of capital and the payment of dividends and distributions as well as group solvency and supervision rules, if applicable, and compliance with the Insurance Code of Conduct.

The BMA has been granted full "equivalence" under Solvency II for Bermuda’s commercial insurance sector, including Class 4 insurers, and this recognition still applied under Solvency UK.

The BMA acts as group supervisor of AXIS Capital and has designated AXIS Specialty Bermuda as the 'designated insurer' of the Group. In accordance with the group supervision and insurance group solvency rules, AXIS Capital is required to prepare and submit an annual group Statutory Financial Return, annual audited group GAAP financial statements, an annual group capital and solvency return and quarterly group unaudited GAAP financial statements, and to appoint a group actuary and a group auditor.

AXIS Capital also files an annual capital and solvency return and must ensure compliance with minimum and enhanced capital requirements.

AXIS Reinsurance Managers is registered with, and regulated by, the BMA as an insurance manager pursuant to the Insurance Act. AXIS Reinsurance Managers is also required to comply with the Insurance Manager Code of Conduct. Insurance managers in Bermuda are responsible for the regulatory compliance, financial reporting, and operational management of the insurers they act for.

AXIS Capital, AXIS Specialty Bermuda, AXIS Specialty Insurance Bermuda, AXIS Specialty Holdings Bermuda Limited, AXIS Specialty Investments Limited, AXIS ILS Ltd., AXIS Specialty Investments II Limited and AXIS Reinsurance Managers must comply with provisions of the Bermuda Companies Act 1981 of Bermuda, as amended ("Companies Act"), regulating the payment of dividends and distributions. A Bermuda company may not declare or pay a dividend or make a distribution out of contributed surplus if there are reasonable grounds for believing that:

(a)    the company is, or would after the payment be, unable to pay its liabilities as they become due; or

(b)    the realizable value of the company’s assets would thereby be less than its liabilities.

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United States

U.S. Insurance Holding Company Regulation of AXIS Capital’s Insurance Subsidiaries

As members of an insurance holding company system, each of AXIS Insurance Co., AXIS Re U.S., AXIS Specialty U.S. and AXIS Surplus (collectively the "U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries") are subject to the insurance holding company laws and regulations of the states in which they do business. These laws generally require each of the U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries to register with its domestic state insurance department and to furnish financial and other information which may materially affect the operations, management or financial condition within the holding company system. All transactions within a holding company system that involve an insurance company must be fair and equitable. Notice to the applicable insurance department is required prior to the consummation of transactions affecting the ownership or control of an insurer and of certain material transactions between an insurer and an entity in its holding company system, and certain transactions may not be consummated without the department’s prior approval.

State Insurance Regulation

AXIS Re U.S. is licensed to transact insurance and reinsurance throughout the U.S. and in Puerto Rico, as well as throughout Canada through its Canadian branch and has reinsurance permissions in Brazil and Ecuador.

AXIS Insurance Co. is licensed to transact insurance and reinsurance throughout the U.S and has reinsurance permissions in China and Mexico.

AXIS Specialty U.S. is licensed to transact insurance and reinsurance throughout the U.S., except California, Iowa, Maine, New Mexico, New York and Wyoming.

AXIS Surplus is eligible to write insurance on a surplus lines basis throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Our U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries are subject to regulation and supervision by their respective states of domicile and by other jurisdictions in which they do business. The regulations generally are derived from statutes that delegate regulatory and supervisory powers to an insurance official. The regulatory framework varies from state to state, but generally relates to approval of policy forms and rates, the standards of solvency that must be met and maintained, including risk-based capital standards, material transactions between an insurer and its affiliates, the licensing of insurers, agents and brokers, restrictions on insurance policy terminations, and limitations on the amount and nature of certain investments, limitations on the net amount of insurance of a single risk compared to the insurer’s surplus, deposits of securities for the benefit of policyholders, methods of accounting, periodic examinations of the financial condition and market conduct of insurance companies, the form and content of reports of financial condition required to be filed, and reserves for unearned premiums, losses, expenses and other obligations.

Our U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries are required to file detailed quarterly statutory financial statements with state insurance regulators in each of the states in which they conduct business. In addition, the U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries’ operations and accounts are subject to financial condition and market conduct examination at regular intervals by state regulators.

Regulators and rating agencies use statutory surplus as a measure to assess our U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries’ ability to support business operations and pay dividends. Our U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries are subject to various state statutory and regulatory restrictions that limit the amount of dividends that may be paid from earned surplus without prior approval from regulatory authorities. These restrictions differ by state, but generally are based on calculations using statutory surplus, statutory net income and investment income. In addition, many state regulators use the National Association of Insurance Commissioners promulgated risk-based capital requirements as a means of identifying insurance companies that may be under-capitalized.

Although generally the insurance industry is not directly regulated by the federal government, federal legislation and initiatives can affect the industry and our business. Certain sections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 ("Dodd-Frank") pertain to the regulation and business of insurance. Specifically, the Federal Insurance Office ("FIO") has limited authority to collect information and report on the business of insurance to Congress. In addition, Dodd-Frank contains the Non-Admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2010 ("NRRA"). NRRA facilitates the payment of surplus lines taxes, simplifies the granting of alien insurers to become surplus lines authorized and coordinates the credit for certain reinsurance.

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AXIS Group Benefits LLC, a provider of voluntary, limited benefit, affordable health plans and other employee benefits coverage for hourly and part-time workers and their families, is an authorized insurance producer in all U.S. states except Hawaii. As a resident insurance producer in Arizona, AXIS Group Benefits LLC is subject to regulation and supervision by the Arizona Department of Insurance and is also subject to the regulation and supervision of the other states in which AXIS Group Benefits LLC transacts business.

U.S. Authorizations of our Non-U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries

The insurance laws of each U.S. state regulate or prohibit the sale of insurance and reinsurance by insurers and reinsurers that are not admitted to do business within their jurisdictions or otherwise conduct business pursuant to exemptions. AXIS Specialty Europe is eligible to write surplus lines business throughout the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. is eligible to use Lloyd's licenses to (i) write surplus lines business throughout the U.S. and in all U.S. territories, and (ii) write non-life reinsurance business throughout the U.S. and in all U.S. territories, except for accident and health reinsurance in New York.

In addition to the regulatory requirements imposed by the jurisdictions in which they are licensed, reinsurers’ business operations are affected by regulatory requirements in various states of the U.S. governing "credit for reinsurance" that are imposed on their ceding companies. In general, a ceding company obtaining reinsurance from a reinsurer that is licensed or approved by the jurisdiction or state in which the ceding company files statutory financial statements is permitted to reflect in its statutory financial statements a credit in an aggregate amount equal to the ceding company’s liability for unearned premiums (which is that portion of premiums written which applies to the unexpired portion of the policy period), loss reserves and loss expense reserves ceded to the reinsurer. The great majority of states, however, permit a credit to statutory surplus to be recognized resulting from reinsurance obtained from a non-licensed or non-accredited reinsurer to the extent that the reinsurer provides a letter of credit, trust fund or other acceptable security arrangement. A few states do not allow credit for reinsurance ceded to non-licensed reinsurers except in certain limited circumstances, and others impose additional requirements that make it difficult to become accredited. In connection with the establishment of a Multi-Beneficiary Reinsurance Trust, AXIS Specialty Bermuda obtained accredited or trusted reinsurer status in all U.S. jurisdictions except for New York.

During 2022, AXIS Specialty Bermuda obtained reciprocal jurisdiction reinsurer status with Missouri as its lead state. Reinsurers licensed in reciprocal jurisdictions (which include EU member states, Bermuda, Japan and Switzerland) are not required to post reinsurance collateral if approved as reciprocal jurisdiction reinsurers. With its approval from Missouri, AXIS Specialty Bermuda applied for and received passporting approvals from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Texas. "Passporting" refers to the process by which a state has the discretion to defer to the determination by another state that a reinsurer is a reciprocal jurisdiction reinsurer, thereby excusing the approved reinsurer from collateral requirements in such state.

Ireland

Our Ireland domiciled insurer and reinsurer are subject to the Solvency II Directive (Directive 2009/138/EC), as amended ("Solvency II"). Solvency II represents a consolidation and modernization of existing European Commission Solvency I insurance and reinsurance regulation and supervision and includes a harmonized risk-based solvency and reporting regime for the insurance/reinsurance sector. Solvency II covers three main areas:

(i) the valuation of assets and liabilities and related solvency capital requirements;

(ii) governance requirements including key functions of compliance, internal audit, actuarial and risk management; and

(iii) legal entity and EU group reporting and disclosure requirements including public disclosures.

The capital requirement must be computed using the Solvency II standard formula unless the Central Bank of Ireland ("CBI") has previously authorized a company to use its own internal model. Certain of our European legal entities are subject to Solvency II.

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AXIS Specialty Europe

AXIS Specialty Europe is a European public limited liability company incorporated as a non-life insurer under the laws of Ireland. It is a Societas Europaea (SE), or European society company, and has been registered in accordance with EU law. AXIS Specialty Europe is authorized and regulated by the CBI pursuant to the Insurance Acts 1909 to 2000, as amended, repealed or replaced, the Central Bank Acts 1942 to 2014, as amended, repealed or replaced, and EU regulation relating to general insurance and statutory instruments made thereunder. AXIS Specialty Europe is authorized to conduct business in 16 non-life insurance classes throughout the EU and the European Economic Area ("EEA"), which includes each of the Member States of the EU with the addition of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. AXIS Specialty Europe may also write reinsurance business within the classes of insurance business for which it is authorized.

AXIS Specialty Europe is subject to Solvency II. In accordance with Solvency II, AXIS Specialty Europe is permitted to provide insurance services to clients located in any EEA Member State ("Freedom of Services"), subject to compliance with any "general good requirements" as may be established by the applicable EEA Member State regulator. AXIS Specialty Europe has notified the CBI of its intention to provide insurance services on a Freedom of Services basis in all EEA countries.

Solvency II also permits AXIS Specialty Europe to carry on insurance business in any EEA Member State under the principle of "Freedom of Establishment" subject to the prior approval of the CBI. AXIS Specialty Europe operates under Freedom of Establishment in Belgium through its branch established in this jurisdiction.

AXIS Specialty Europe has local regulatory permission to carry on insurance business in Jersey, and has permission to write surplus lines business in all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C. It also has a U.K. branch that transacts general insurance business in the U.K. and trades as AXIS Specialty London. The UK Branch of AXIS Specialty Europe is fully regulated by both the PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA").

AXIS Specialty Europe also has reinsurance permissions in India, China, Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia and Guatemala.

AXIS Re SE

AXIS Re SE is a European public limited liability company incorporated as a reinsurer under the laws of Ireland. AXIS Re SE is also a Societas Europaea (SE), or European society company, registered in accordance with EU law. AXIS Re SE is authorized by the CBI as a composite reinsurer (non-life and life) in accordance with the Insurance Acts 1909 to 2000, as amended, repealed or replaced, the Central Bank Acts 1942 to 2014, as amended, repealed or replaced, and EU regulation applicable to reinsurance and statutory instruments made thereunder. AXIS Re SE is authorized to transact reinsurance throughout the EU and the EEA and is subject to Solvency II.

AXIS Re SE conducts business through its branch in Zurich, Switzerland, trading as AXIS Re Europe (see 'Switzerland' below).

AXIS Re SE Escritório de Representação No Brasil Ltda. was established in Brazil as a subsidiary of AXIS Re SE to facilitate the Brazilian Superintendence of Private Insurance ("SUSEP") regulatory requirements for approval of a representative office of AXIS Re SE and for the registration of AXIS Re SE with SUSEP as an admitted reinsurer.

AXIS Re SE has reinsurance permissions in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru.

Other AXIS Entities

AXIS Specialty Bermuda may write reinsurance under Solvency II equivalence granted to Bermuda by the EU. AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. is eligible to write insurance (except permanent health) and reinsurance business in Ireland through Lloyd's Europe.

U.K. and Lloyd's of London

In the U.K., under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA"), no person may carry on a regulated activity unless authorized or exempt. Effecting or intermediating contracts of insurance or reinsurance are regulated activities requiring authorization. Effecting contracts of insurance requires authorization by the PRA and is regulated by the FCA. Intermediating contracts of insurance requires authorization by the FCA.

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The FCA is a conduct regulator for all U.K. firms carrying on regulated activity in the U.K. while the PRA is the prudential regulator for U.K. banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. As a prudential regulator, the PRA's general objective is to promote the safety and soundness of the firms it regulates. The PRA rules require financial firms to hold sufficient capital and have adequate risk controls in place.

The FCA's statutory strategic objective is to ensure that relevant markets function well and have operational objectives to protect consumers and protect financial markets and to promote competition. It makes rules covering how the firm must be managed and requirements relating to the firm’s systems and controls, how business must be conducted and the firm’s arrangements to manage financial crime risk. The PRA and the FCA require regular and ad hoc reporting and monitor compliance with their respective rule books through a variety of means including the collection of data, industry reviews and site visits.

AXIS Managing Agency Ltd.

AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. is authorized and regulated by the PRA and regulated by the FCA to conduct insurance and reinsurance business and is a Lloyd's of London ("Lloyd's") managing agent authorized by Lloyd's to manage our syndicates, Syndicate 1686 and AXIS Energy Transition Syndicate 2050 ("Syndicate 2050"). Syndicate 2050 commenced underwriting business on April 1, 2024.

Lloyd’s is a society of corporate and individual members that underwrite insurance and reinsurance as members of syndicates. A syndicate is made up of one or more members that form a group to accept insurance and reinsurance risks. Each syndicate is managed by a managing agent that writes insurance business on behalf of the members of the syndicate. Syndicate members receive profits or bear losses in proportion to their respective shares in the syndicate for each underwriting year of account.

Lloyd’s is subject to U.K. law and is authorized under the FSMA. The Lloyd’s Act 1982 defines the governance structure and rules under which the society operates. Under the Lloyd's Act 1982, the Council of Lloyd’s is responsible for managing, supervising and supporting the Lloyd's market. Lloyd's agrees to syndicates' business plans and evaluates performance against those plans. Syndicates are required to underwrite only in accordance with their agreed business plans. If they fail to do so, Lloyd’s can take a range of actions including, as a last resort, prohibiting a syndicate from underwriting.

Lloyd’s has a global network of licenses and authorizations, and underwriters at Lloyd's may write business in countries where Lloyd’s has authorized status or exemptions available to non-admitted insurers or reinsurers. Lloyd’s licenses can only be used if the Syndicate Business Forecast, agreed annually with Lloyd’s, names those countries. Lloyd’s also manages and protects the Lloyd’s network of international licenses, monitors syndicates’ compliance with Lloyd’s Principles for doing business and is responsible for setting both member and central capital levels.

AXIS Corporate Capital UK Limited

AXIS Corporate Capital UK Limited was a corporate member of Syndicate 1686, previously providing 70% capital support. It ceased providing capital support to Syndicate 1686 on December 31, 2024.

AXIS Corporate Capital UK II Limited

AXIS Corporate Capital UK II Limited is a corporate member of Syndicate 1686, providing 100% capital support to Syndicate 1686 with effect from January 1, 2025. It previously provided 30% capital support.

AXIS Corporate Capital UK II Limited is also a corporate member of Syndicate 2050, providing 100% capital support.

AXIS Underwriting Limited

AXIS Underwriting Limited is authorized and regulated by the FCA as an insurance intermediary. AXIS Underwriting Limited underwrites insurance on behalf of AXIS Specialty Europe and at Lloyd's on behalf of Syndicate 1686.

Reinsurance

AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. remains able to conduct non-life facultative, proportional and excess of loss reinsurance throughout the EEA via Lloyd’s Europe.

AXIS Re SE currently transacts reinsurance business in the EEA pursuant to European law.

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Switzerland

AXIS Re SE's branch in Zurich, Switzerland trades as AXIS Re Europe and is registered in Zurich as AXIS Re SE, Dublin (Zurich Branch). The CBI remains responsible for the prudential supervision of the branch. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority does not impose additional regulation upon a Swiss branch of a company exclusively engaged in providing reinsurance.

AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. is eligible to use Lloyd's licenses to write all classes of insurance business, except life, sickness and legal expenses in Switzerland, and is authorized to write the same classes of reinsurance business in Switzerland.

Singapore

AXIS Specialty Bermuda historically conducted insurance and reinsurance business from its branch in Singapore, AXIS Specialty Limited (Singapore Branch), subject to the supervision of the BMA and the MAS. The BMA and the MAS impose significant regulations relating to capital adequacy, risk management, governance and audit and actuarial requirements. AXIS Specialty Limited (Singapore Branch) is registered by ACRA as a foreign company in Singapore and is also regulated by ACRA pursuant to the Singapore Companies Act. AXIS Specialty Limited (Singapore Branch) has separate reinsurance permissions in China. AXIS Specialty Bermuda ceased writing new business through its branch in Singapore, effective January 1, 2024, and plans to close this branch, subject to meeting all regulatory and legal requirements.

AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. is eligible to use Lloyd's licenses to write insurance from Singapore with the exception of certain compulsory classes and life business.

Canada

AXIS Re U.S. conducts insurance and reinsurance business from its branch in Canada, AXIS Reinsurance Company (Canadian Branch), subject to the supervision of the New York State Department of Financial Services and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada ("OSFI"), the federal regulatory authority that supervises federal Canadian and non-Canadian insurance companies operating in Canada pursuant to the Insurance Companies Act (Canada). The branch is authorized by OSFI to transact insurance and reinsurance. In addition, the branch is subject to the laws and regulations of each of the provinces and territories in which it is licensed.

AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. is eligible to use Lloyd's licenses to write insurance in and from Canada, subject to the laws and regulations of each of the provinces and territories in which it is licensed, with certain exceptions. AXIS Managing Agency Ltd., through Lloyd's, is authorized to write reinsurance in and from Canada subject to certain restrictions.

Belgium

AXIS Specialty Europe conducts insurance from its Belgium branch, AXIS Specialty Europe SE (Belgium Branch), which is subject to CBI prudential supervision and limited regulation by the National Bank of Belgium.

Non-Admitted Insurance and Reinsurance

The Company also insures and reinsures risks in many countries, including the above countries, pursuant to regulatory permissions and exemptions available to non-admitted insurers and reinsurers.

AXIS Managing Agency Ltd. is eligible to use Lloyd's licenses to write insurance and reinsurance business where Lloyd's has authorized status or pursuant to regulatory exemptions available to non-admitted insurers and reinsurers.

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HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

AXIS Capital’s mission is not only to deliver strong financial results, but also to help our clients, brokers and partners navigate the challenges of a volatile world. We believe our teammates distinguish us from our competitors and are critical to our success as a specialty underwriter that leads with purpose and lives our values every day. Our workforce’s strength is grounded in our values: Excellence, Stronger Together, Decisiveness and People. These values represent behaviors that we hold ourselves and others accountable for every day. We recognize that our strength lies in our people, and therefore, one of our core strategies is to invest in and support our teammates, including in the following areas of focus:

Talent Development

At AXIS, investing in our people is a top priority. We offer a comprehensive suite of professional development tools, resources, and training to support career growth across our global organization. Our online learning and development hub reflects our investment in upskilling and is complemented by financial assistance for external professional development, as well as tuition reimbursement for eligible part-time, business-related degree and certificate programs. To strengthen our pipeline of future leaders, we have expanded manager resources and introduced new leadership development programs tailored to various stages in the career journey.

Health, Safety and Wellness

We are committed to the health, safety and wellness of our workforce and offer our teammates a variety of tools to support their physical, emotional and financial wellbeing. Examples include access to mental health resources, back-up child and elder care and on-demand fertility, maternity, postpartum and return-to-work assistance. We offer a hybrid working model that provides flexibility to our teammates. We strive to be an employer of choice and we believe this approach helps us recruit and retain talent. Additionally, we are promoting sustainable performance through 1:1 wellness coaching and programming targeted at the senior leadership team.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our teammates has long been a priority for AXIS. In 2025, we hosted a variety of internal learning events, offered activities for our teammates focused on Mental Health Awareness month and World Mental Health Day, introduced a dedicated Wellbeing Day as part of paid time-off, and promoted broader internal and external advocacy initiatives to promote mental health and wellbeing.

Inclusion

AXIS is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace that values diverse perspectives. In 2025, we advanced our inclusion strategy through initiatives that strengthen engagement across our global workforce. We expanded education programs to enhance cultural competency and inclusive leadership. We also partnered with industry organizations to promote inclusion within AXIS and the communities where we operate. These actions underscore our commitment to a workplace where all employees can contribute at their highest potential.

Teammate Engagement

AXIS recognizes that engagement is critical to creating a fulfilling workplace and enabling employees to perform at their best. In 2025, we advanced engagement through initiatives focused on listening, connection, and recognition. We launched our annual People Engagement Survey, supplemented by pulse surveys throughout the year, to capture real-time feedback and inform action. To further strengthen our culture, we also refreshed our values and behaviors with direct employee input to ensure they reflect our identity and support evolving business priorities.

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Compensation and Benefits

To attract and retain our industry's top talent, we offer teammates a total rewards program that is designed to incentivize exceptional performance. Our compensation packages align with our pay-for-performance philosophy and are assessed on an annual basis following year-end performance reviews. Our packages are also regularly benchmarked against similarly-sized specialty insurance, reinsurance and financial services companies in our talent markets. Compensation components include market competitive salaries and short-term annual incentive programs and, for senior level teammates, long-term incentives such as equity grants. To provide share ownership throughout all levels of our organization, we recently awarded an equity grant for all AXIS teammates who do not receive equity as part of their annual compensation. This ownership award reinforces our "Stronger Together" value and the ownership mentality that defines our culture. Our comprehensive benefits packages include health and welfare plans for teammates and their families, retirement savings plans with employer contributions and work-life benefits, including parental leave policies, flexible work arrangements for eligible teammates and charitable matching programs.

At AXIS, we are committed to fair pay and delivering equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, race or other personal characteristics. In support of our commitment to equal pay practices, all compensation offers are reviewed against internal peers to ensure equal pay at the job level, while year-end incentive awards are reviewed for bias based on gender and ethnic diversity. Furthermore, regular pay equity audits are conducted with action taken to address any areas of concern.

Succession Planning

We have a robust talent and succession planning process. Each year, management conducts talent reviews for all AXIS teammates, focusing on high performing and high potential talent, emerging talent, and diverse talent. This information is used to drive both teammate development plans and succession planning. Annually, succession plans are completed for each member of the Executive Committee and the other critical roles across AXIS. The Board exercises oversight of succession planning by reviewing a comprehensive annual succession plan for key Executive Committee roles, including the CEO.

Employees

At December 31, 2025, we had 1,966 employees. During 2025, the number of employees increased by approximately 5% and our voluntary turnover rate was 9.6% compared to 11.9% in 2024.

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TRADEMARKS

We use our trademarks, including among others, our "AXIS" trademarks for the global marketing of our products and services, and we believe that we sufficiently safeguard our trademark portfolio to protect our rights.

AVAILABLE INFORMATION

Our Internet website address is www.axiscapital.com. Information contained in our website is not part of this report.

We make available free of charge, through our internet website, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.

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RISK AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

Risk Management Framework – Overview

Mission and Objectives

The mission of Enterprise Risk Management ("ERM") is to promptly identify, assess, manage, monitor, and report risks that affect the achievement of our strategic, operational, and financial objectives. The key objectives of our ERM framework are to:

•Protect our capital base and earnings by monitoring risks against our stated risk appetite and limits;

•Promote a sound risk management culture through disciplined and informed risk taking;

•Enhance value creation and contribute to an optimal risk-return profile by providing the basis for efficient capital deployment;

•Support our group-wide decision-making process by providing reliable and timely risk information; and

•Safeguard our reputation.

The ERM framework applies to all lines of business and corporate functions.

Risk Governance

At the heart of our ERM framework is a governance process with responsibilities for identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring, and reporting risks. We articulate roles and responsibilities for risk management throughout the organization, from the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer to our business and corporate functions, thus embedding risk management throughout the Company (refer to 'Risk Governance and Risk Management Organization' below).

Our risk policies are a formal set of documents that outline key drivers of risk and responsibilities for managing individual and aggregate risks. Our qualitative and quantitative risk reporting framework provides transparency and early warning indicators to senior management with regard to our overall risk profile, adherence to risk appetite and limits, and management actions at the Group and legal entity level.

Various governance and control bodies coordinate to help ensure that objectives are being achieved, risks are identified, and appropriately managed, and internal controls are in place and operating effectively.

Internal Capital Model

An important aspect of our ERM framework is our internal capital model. Utilizing this modeling framework provides us with a holistic view of the capital we put at risk in any year by allowing us to understand the relative interaction among the known risks impacting us. This integrated approach recognizes that a single risk factor can affect different sub-portfolios and that different risk factors can have different mutual dependencies. We continuously review and update our model and its parameters as our risk landscape and external environment continue to evolve.

As well as being used to measure internal risk capital (refer to 'Capital Management' below), our internal capital model is used as a tool in managing our business, specifically to help allocate capital to the businesses that will provide the best returns. We also use the internal model to support portfolio monitoring, reinsurance and retrocession (collectively referred to as "reinsurance") purchasing, and investment asset allocations.

Our internal capital model is an integral part of the business planning process which provides an assessment as to whether our prospective business and investment strategies are in line with our defined risk appetite and objectives at the Group and legal entity level. The model also provides a basis for optimizing our risk-return profile by providing consistent risk measurement across the Group. The model outputs are reviewed and supplemented with management’s judgment and business experience and expertise. The internal capital model is subject to regular updates and validations.

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Risk Diversification

As a global insurer and reinsurer with a wide product offering across different businesses, diversification is a key component of our business model and risk framework. Diversification enhances our ability to manage our risks by limiting the impact of a single event and contributing to relatively stable long-term results and our general risk profile. The degree to which the diversification effect can be realized depends not only on the correlation between risks but also the level of relative concentration of those risks. Therefore, our aim is to maintain a balanced risk profile without any disproportionately large risks. Our internal capital model considers the level of correlation and diversification between individual risks, and we measure concentration risk consistently across our business in terms of pre/post diversified internal risk capital requirements.

Risk Appetite and Limit Framework

Our integrated ERM framework considers material risks that arise both internally and externally, that could impact our business. Material risks that might accumulate and have the potential to produce substantial losses are subject to our group-wide risk appetite and limit framework. Our risk appetite, as authorized by the Board of Directors, represents the amount of risk that we are willing to accept in pursuit of our strategic objectives, within the constraints imposed by our capital resources as well as the expectations of our stakeholders as to the type of risks we hold within our business. At an annual aggregated level, we also monitor and manage the potential financial loss from the accumulation of risk exposure in any one year.

Specific risk limits are defined and translated into a consistent framework across our identified risk categories and across our legal entities and are intended to limit the impact of individual risk types or accumulations of risk. Individual limits are established through an iterative annual process to ensure that the overall framework complies with our group-wide requirements on capital adequacy and risk accumulation.

We monitor risks against our documented risk appetite and defined limits and report any deviations through our risk reporting framework.

External Perspectives

Various external stakeholders, among them regulators, rating agencies, investors and accounting bodies, place emphasis on the importance of sound risk management in the insurance and reinsurance industry. We monitor developments in the external environment and evolve our ERM framework and risk management practices accordingly.

Risk Governance and Risk Management Organization

The key elements of our governance framework, as it relates specifically to risk management, are described below:

Board of Directors

The Risk Committee of the Board of Directors ("Risk Committee") assists the directors in overseeing the integrity and effectiveness of our ERM framework and ensuring that our risk mitigation activities are consistent with that framework. The Risk Committee reviews, approves and monitors our overall risk strategy, risk appetite, and key risk limits, and receives regular reports from the Group Risk Management function ("Group Risk") to ensure any significant risk issues are being addressed by management. The Risk Committee further reviews, with management and Internal Audit, the Group’s risk policies and satisfies itself that effective systems of risk management and controls are established and maintained.

Among its other responsibilities, the Risk Committee reviews and approves our annual Own Risk and Solvency Assessment ("ORSA") report. The Risk Committee also assesses the independence and objectivity of our Group Risk function, approves its terms of reference, and reviews its ongoing activities. In addition, the Risk Committee conducts a review and provides a recommendation to the Board of Directors regarding the appointment and/or removal of the Chief Risk Officer. The Risk Committee meets with the Chief Risk Officer in separate executive sessions on a regular basis.

The Finance Committee of the Board of Directors ("Finance Committee") oversees the Group’s investment of funds and adequacy of financing facilities. This includes approval of the Group’s strategic asset allocation plan. In addition, the Finance Committee is responsible for monitoring and recommending to the Board on the Group’s capital management activities, encompassing dividend policy, share repurchase authorizations and the optimal deployment of capital to support shareholder value creation.

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The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors ("Audit Committee"), which is supported by Internal Audit, is responsible for overseeing internal controls and compliance procedures, and also reviews with management and the Chair of the Risk Committee the Group’s policies regarding risk assessment and risk management.

Group Executives

The Executive Committee formulates our business objectives and risk strategy within the overall risk appetite set by the Board of Directors. It allocates capital resources and sets limits across the Group, with the objective of balancing return and risk. While the Executive Committee has overall responsibility for risk management, it has delegated some authority to the executive level Risk Management Committee ("RMC") consisting of the President and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Group Chief Underwriting Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Actuary - Reserving and Capital, and Chief Administrative and Legal Officer.

The RMC is responsible for overseeing the integrity and effectiveness of the Group's ERM framework and ensuring that the Group's risk mitigation activities are consistent with that framework, including a review of the annual business plan relative to our risk limits. In addition to the RMC, there is an established framework of separate yet complementary management committees and sub-committees, focusing on particular aspects of ERM including the following:

Management Committees and Councils

•The Underwriting & Governance Committee oversees the integrity and effectiveness of our Underwriting Governance Framework ensuring our underwriting activities are consistent with that framework.

•The Investment & Finance Committee oversees the Group’s investment activities, which includes monitoring market risks, the performance of our investment managers and the Group’s asset-liability management, liquidity positions and investment policies and guidelines. The Investment & Finance Committee also prepares the Group’s strategic asset allocation ranges and presents it to the Finance Committee for approval.

•The Capital Management Committee oversees the integrity and effectiveness of our capital management policy, including the capital management policies of our legal entities and branches, and oversees the availability of capital within the Group.

•The Group Reserving Committee ensures appropriate oversight and validation of the Group reserves for losses and loss expenses ("loss reserves").

•Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management Group ("EPPG") is responsible for governing project investments across the Group. It ensures that our investments align with our business strategies and that projects can be executed effectively and efficiently.

•The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Council ensures appropriate regular oversight of AI-related products and activities, such as approval of policies surrounding AI usage, and is a key decision taking party. The AI Council is supported by the AI Working Group, which acts as a filter and has the power to decide on the low risk/more obvious cases.

RMC Sub-Committees and Working Groups

•The Exposure Management Committee oversees the Group's exposure management framework for catastrophe and non-catastrophe business, including the validation of modeling, threats framework, accumulation practices and monitoring of management appetites.

•The Reinsurance Security Committee ("RSC") sets out the financial security requirements of our reinsurance counterparties and approves counterparties, as needed.

•The Internal Model Committee oversees the Group's internal model framework, including the key model assumptions, methodology and validation framework.

•The Operational Risk Committee oversees the Group's operational risk framework for identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring, and reporting of operational risk and facilitates the embedding of effective operational risk management practices throughout the Group.

•The Emerging Risks Working Group oversees the processes for identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring, and reporting current and potential emerging risks and opportunities.

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•The AI Underwriting Working Group discusses and monitors any AI related activities potentially impacting Underwriting, such as regulatory updates, market initiatives and new claim developments.

•The Environmental Working Group focuses specifically on climate-related risks and opportunities and oversees climate risk initiatives.

Group Risk Management

As a general principle, management in each of the lines of business and corporate functions is responsible in the first instance for the risks and returns of its decisions. Management is the 'owner' of risk management processes and is responsible for managing our business within defined risk limits.

The Chief Risk Officer, who reports to the Chief Financial Officer and the Chair of the Risk Committee leads our independent Group Risk function, and is responsible for oversight and implementation of the Group's ERM framework, as well as providing guidance and support for risk management practices. Group Risk is responsible for developing methods and processes for identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring, and reporting risk. This forms the basis for informing the Risk Committee and RMC of the Group’s risk profile. The Group Risk function develops our ERM framework and oversees the adherence to this framework at the Group and legal entity level. Our Chief Risk Officer regularly reports risk matters to the Chief Financial Officer, Executive Committee, RMC, and the Risk Committee.

Internal Audit, an independent, objective function, reports to the Audit Committee on the effectiveness of our ERM framework. This includes assurance that key business risks have been adequately identified and managed appropriately and that our system of internal control is operating effectively. Internal Audit also coordinates risk-based audits, compliance reviews and other specific initiatives to evaluate and address risk within targeted areas of our business.

Our risk governance structure is further complemented by our legal team which seeks to mitigate legal and regulatory compliance risks with support from other teams. This includes ensuring that significant developments in law and regulation are observed and that we react appropriately to impending legislative and regulatory changes and applicable court rulings.

Risk Landscape

Our risk landscape comprises insurance, strategic, market, liquidity, credit, and operational risks that arise as a result of undertaking our business activities. We provide definitions of these risk categories as well as descriptions of management of these risks below.

The Risk Register is a detailed repository of the key drivers of risk that the Company is exposed to, along with the Key Controls and Key Risk Indicators ("KRIs") that are in place to maintain the level of risk within the defined risk appetite. There is a quarterly certification process, whereby control owners confirm the performance of the controls and identify any issues to be followed up. In addition, we undertake ongoing risk assessments of all enterprise risks, the output of which is captured in our Risk Register that is reviewed and reported through our governance structure.

Our risk landscape is reviewed and reported on a regular basis to ensure that it remains up-to-date based on the evolving risk profile of the Company. In addition, we undertake ongoing risk assessments across all enterprise risks, the output of which is captured in our Risk Register that is reviewed and reported through our governance structure.

Insurance Risk

Insurance risk is the inherent uncertainty as to the occurrence, amount and timing of insurance and reinsurance liabilities transferred to us through the underwriting process.

Since our inception in 2001, we have expanded our international presence, with underwriting offices in Bermuda, the U.S., Europe, and Canada. Our disciplined underwriting approach coupled with a peer review process has enabled us to manage this growth in a controlled and consistent manner.

A key component of the Group's underwriting risk governance is our peer review processes, which allow for a collaborative review of risk and pricing, and ensure that underwriting is within established guidelines and procedures. Underwriting guidelines are in place to provide a framework for consistent pricing and risk analysis and to ensure alignment to the Group's risk appetite. Limits are set on underwriting capacity and cascade authority to individuals based on their specific roles and expertise and are established on a tiering basis which is differentiated by the type of loss. Loss scenario and subject exposure have been specified with increasing level of granularity for lower tiers. Tiered appetites have been set for each line of business, with considerations of exposure from each line on the basis of (1) Aggregate (2) Occurrence and (3) Risk and Clash

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losses. The risk management team monitors both management and board limits to ensure effective management and oversight.

We also have significant audit coverage across our lines of business, including Management Initiated Audits ("MIAs"). MIAs are audits of underwriting and claims files performed by teams independent of those who originated the transactions, the purpose of which is to test the robustness of our underwriting and claims processes and to recognize any early indicators of future trends in our operational risk environment.

Pricing

Premiums for insurance and reinsurance contracts are intended to cover expected claim costs, claim associated expenses, acquisition costs, operating costs, and an adequate level of profit margin commensurate to the risk being assumed. Premium amounts are typically agreed upfront, but may not cover the actual future costs due to unexpected factors such as social, economic and legal environments, as well as uncertainty surrounding frequency and severity of claims.

We mitigate premium risk in our portfolio through four main levers by:

•Taking a vigilant and cautious approach on claims cost trends, and we review these assumptions frequently.

•Including loss and/or exposure adjustment features that flex premium and/or acquisition costs in response to higher-than-expected exposures and/or claim costs in some of our contracts.

•Employing underwriting action and reinsurance protection to minimize volatility in our claims experience by managing aggregation of limits and by maintaining balance between portfolio margin and limits deployed.

•Enhancing our processes including refining our models to ensure we grow the portfolio at times when pricing is in surplus and we shrink the portfolio at times when pricing is in deficit.

Reinsurance Purchasing

Another key component of our mitigation of insurance risk is the purchase of reinsurance to reduce volatility and protect our business on a treaty (covering a portfolio of risks) and facultative (single risk) basis.

For treaty reinsurance, we purchase proportional and non-proportional cover.

Under proportional reinsurance, we cede an agreed percentage of the premiums and the losses and loss expenses on the policies we underwrite, where we protect against higher loss frequency rather than specific events.

We use non-proportional reinsurance, whereby losses up to a certain amount (i.e., our retention) are borne by us. By using non-proportional reinsurance, we can limit our liability with a retention, which reflects our willingness and ability to bear risk, and is therefore in line with our risk appetite. We primarily purchase the following forms of non-proportional reinsurance:

•Excess of loss per risk – our reinsurer(s) indemnify us for loss amounts in excess of our retention, for all individual policies effected, as defined in the treaty terms and conditions. Per-risk treaties are an effective means of risk mitigation against large single losses (e.g., a large fire claim).

•Catastrophe excess of loss – provides annual per loss occurrence loss cover for our insurance portfolio against the accumulation of losses incurred from a single event (e.g., windstorm).

We have a centralized Risk Funding team which coordinates external treaty reinsurance purchasing (including retrocession) across the Group and a separate AXIS ILS (Insurance Linked Securities) team, which coordinates the sourcing and structuring of third-party capital to support our underwriting. Risk Funding and AXIS ILS teams are overseen by our Reinsurance Purchasing Group ("RPG"). The RPG, which includes, among others, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Group Chief Underwriting Officer and representatives from the business leadership, approves each treaty placement and aims to ensure that appropriate diversification exists within our RSC approved counterparty panels.

Facultative reinsurance provides risk transfer on a case by case basis. In certain circumstances, we use facultative reinsurance to complement treaty reinsurance by covering additional risks over and above what is already covered by treaties. Facultative reinsurance is monitored by the Risk Funding team.

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Natural Catastrophes

Natural catastrophes such as hurricanes, windstorms, earthquakes, floods, tornados, hail and fire represent a challenge for risk management due to their accumulation potential and occurrence volatility. In managing natural catastrophe risk, our internal risk limit framework aims to limit the loss of capital due to a single event and the loss of capital which would occur from multiple (but perhaps smaller) events in any year. Within this framework, we have an established risk limit for single event, single zone probable maximum loss ("PML") within defined zones. For example, at the 1-in-100-year return period, we are not willing to expose more than 10% of common equity to a single event within a single zone.

The table below shows our net PML to a single natural peril catastrophe event within certain defined single zones which correspond to peak industry catastrophe exposures at January 1, 2026 and 2025:

The return period refers to the frequency with which losses of a given amount or greater are expected to occur. A zone is a geographic area in which the insurance risks are considered to be correlated to a single catastrophic event. Estimated losses from a modeled event are grouped into a single zone, as shown above, based on where the majority of the total estimated industry loss is expected to occur. In managing zonal concentrations, we aim to ensure that the geography of single events is suitably captured, but distinct enough that they track specific types of events. For example, our definition of Southeast wind encompasses five states, including Florida, while our definition of Gulf of Mexico windstorm encompasses four states, including Texas.

Our PMLs take into account the fact that an event may trigger claims in a number of lines of business. For instance, our U.S. hurricane modeling includes the estimated pre-tax impact to our financial results arising from our property lines of business including energy business, and our marine and aviation lines of business. Our PMLs include assumptions regarding the location, size and magnitude of an event, the frequency of events, a property's construction type and susceptibility to damage, and the cost of rebuilding the property. Loss estimates for non-U.S. zones will be subject to foreign currency exchange rates, although we may mitigate this currency variability from a book value perspective.

As indicated in the table above, our modeled single occurrence 1-in-100-year return period PML for a Southeast U.S. hurricane, net of reinsurance, is approximately $225 million. According to our modeling, there is a one percent chance that on an annual basis losses incurred from a Southeast U.S. hurricane event could be in excess of $225 million. Conversely, there is a 99% chance that on an annual basis the loss from a Southeast U.S. hurricane will fall below $225 million.

PMLs are based on results of stochastic models that consider a wide range of possible events, their losses and probabilities. It is important to consider that an actual event does not necessarily resemble one of the stochastic events and the specific characteristics of an actual event can lead to substantial differences between actual and modeled losses.

We have developed our PML estimates by combining judgment and experience with the outputs from a commercially available catastrophe model, that we also use for pricing catastrophe risk. This model covers the major peril regions where we face potential exposure. Additionally, we have included our estimate of non-modeled perils and other factors, that we believe provides us with a more complete view of catastrophe risk.

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Our PML estimates are based on assumptions that are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. These uncertainties and contingencies can affect actual losses and could cause actual losses to differ materially from those expressed above. We aim to reduce the potential for model error in a number of ways, the most important of which is by ensuring that management’s judgment supplements the model outputs. Models are continuously validated at the line of business and at a group level by our Exposure Management Center of Excellence. These validation procedures include sensitivity testing of models to understand their key variables and, where possible, back testing the model outputs to actual results.

Estimated net losses from peak zone catastrophes may change from period to period as a result of several factors, that include but are not limited to, updates to vendor catastrophe models, changes to internal view of risk, underwriting portfolios, reinsurance purchasing strategy and foreign currency exchange rates.

Man-Made Catastrophes

Consistent with our management of natural peril catastrophe exposures, we take a similarly focused and analytical approach to the management of man-made catastrophes. Man-made catastrophes, which include such risks as train collisions, airplane crashes or terrorism, and other intentionally destructive acts, including cyber-attacks, are harder to model in terms of assumptions regarding intensity and frequency. For these risks we supplement commercially available vendor models with our bespoke modeling, and underwriting judgment and expertise. This allows us to take advantage of business opportunities related to man-made catastrophe exposures particularly where we can measure and limit the risk sufficiently as well as obtain risk-adequate pricing.

As an example of our approach, our assessment of terrorism risk is based on a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data (e.g., for estimating property damage, business interruption, mortality and morbidity subsequent to an attack of a predefined magnitude), which we use to limit and manage our aggregate terrorism exposure. We use commercially available vendor modeling and bespoke modeling tools to measure accumulations around potential terrorism accumulation zones on a deterministic and probabilistic basis. We supplement the results of our modeling with underwriting judgment.

Reserving Risk

The estimation of loss reserves is subject to uncertainty as the settlement of claims is dependent on future events and developments.

We have well established processes in place for determining loss reserves and we calculate loss reserves in accordance with actuarial best practice based on substantiated methodologies and assumptions. Our loss reserving process demands data quality and reliability and requires a quantitative and qualitative review of overall loss reserves and individual large claims. Within a structured control framework, claims information is communicated on a regular basis throughout our organization, including to senior management, to provide an increased awareness of losses that have occurred throughout the insurance markets. The detailed and analytical reserving approach that follows is designed to absorb and understand the latest information on reported and unreported claims, to recognize the resultant exposure as quickly as possible, and to record appropriate loss reserves in our consolidated financial statements.

Another significant component of reserving risk relates to the estimation of losses in the aftermath of a major catastrophe event. Refer to Item 7 'Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Critical Accounting Estimates – Reserves for Losses and Loss Expenses' for further details. Refer also to Item 8, Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Reserve for Losses and Loss Expenses – Reserving Methodology – Reserving for Catastrophic Events' for further details.

Claims Handling Risk

In accepting risk, we are committing to the payment of claims and therefore these risks must be understood and controlled. We have claims teams dedicated to our main lines of business. Our claim teams include a diverse group of experienced professionals, including claims adjusters and attorneys. We also use approved external service providers, such as independent adjusters and appraisers, surveyors, accountants, investigators, and specialist attorneys, as appropriate.

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We maintain claims handling guidelines, which include details on claims reporting controls and claims reporting escalation procedures, for all our claims teams. Large claims matters are reported on a weekly basis in claims summaries that are circulated to our underwriters, senior management and others involved in the reserving process. To maintain communication between underwriting and claims teams, claims personnel regularly report at underwriting meetings and frequently attend client meetings.

We foster a strong culture of review among our claims teams. This includes MIAs whereby senior claims handlers and/or external audit resources audit a sample of claim files. The process is designed to ensure consistency between the claims teams and to develop group-wide best practices.

When we receive notice of a claim, regardless of size, it is recorded in our claims and financial systems. In addition, we produce alerts regarding significant events and potential losses, regardless of whether we have exposure. These alerts allow a direct notification to be communicated to underwriters and senior management worldwide. Similarly, for natural peril catastrophes, we have developed a catastrophe database, along with catastrophe coding in certain systems, that allows for the gathering, analyzing, and reporting of loss information as it develops from early modeled results to fully adjusted and paid losses.

Strategic Risk

Strategic risks affect or are created by an organization’s business strategy and strategic objectives. Our review of strategic risk evaluates not only internal and external challenges that might cause our chosen strategy to fail but also evaluates major risks that could affect our long-term performance and position.

We believe it is imperative that we consider the business risks associated with, and mitigated by, each strategy. We also view strategic risk not only as the negative impact of risk but also the sub-optimization of gain. Fundamentally, we believe that we are set up for success if we analyze both value protection and value creation.

Environmental risk and sustainability have become major topics that encompass a wide range of issues, including climate change and other environmental risks. In line with our strategy, we have put in place several measures to identify, assess, manage, and monitor potential exposure to climate risks, for example physical, transition and liability risks.

At least on a quarterly basis, the Executive Committee meets and receives holistic information about execution against strategy and makes decisions to adjust and/or advance strategy. In addition, strategies employed throughout our business in support of the broader enterprise strategy are reviewed in the context of a broader governance structure by business leadership and are ultimately approved by the Board of Directors.

Market Risk

Market risk is the risk that our financial instruments, which include derivatives, may be negatively impacted by movements in financial market prices or rates, such as interest rates, credit spreads, equity securities' prices and foreign currency exchange rates. Fluctuations in market prices or rates primarily affect our investment portfolio.

Through asset-liability management, we aim to ensure that market risks influence the economic value of our investments and our loss reserves and other liabilities in the same way, thus mitigating the effect of market fluctuations. For example, we reflect important features of our liabilities, such as maturity patterns and foreign currency structures, on the asset side of the balance sheet by acquiring investments with similar characteristics.

We supplement our asset-liability management with various internal policies and limits. As part of our strategic asset allocation process, different strategic asset classes are simulated and stressed to evaluate the 'optimal' frontier, given return objectives and risk constraints. Our investments team manages asset classes to control aggregation of risk and provide a consistent approach to constructing portfolios and the selection process of external asset managers. We have limits on the concentration of investments by single issuers and certain asset classes, and we limit the level of illiquid investments (refer to 'Liquidity Risk' below).

We stress test our investment portfolios using historical and hypothetical scenarios to analyze the impact of unusual market conditions and to ensure potential investment losses remain within our risk appetite. At an annual aggregated level, we manage the total risk exposure of our investment portfolio so that the 'total return' investment loss in any one year is unlikely to exceed a defined percentage of our common equity at a defined return period.

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We mitigate foreign currency risk by seeking to match our estimated insurance and reinsurance liabilities payable in foreign currencies with assets, including cash and investments that are denominated in the same foreign currencies. Where necessary, we use derivative financial instruments for economic hedging purposes. For example, in certain circumstances, we use foreign exchange forward contracts to economically hedge portions of our unmatched foreign currency exposures.

Liquidity Risk

Liquidity risk is the risk that we may not have sufficient cash to meet our obligations when they are due or would have to incur excessive costs to do so.

As an insurer and reinsurer, our core business generates liquidity primarily through premiums, investment income and the maturity/sale of investments. Our exposure to liquidity risk stems mainly from the need to pay claims on potential extreme loss events and regulatory constraints that limit the flow of funds within the Group. To manage these risks, we have a range of liquidity policies and procedures in place which are described below:

•We maintain cash and cash equivalents and a high quality, liquid investment portfolio to meet expected outflows, as well as those that could result from a range of potential stress events. We place limits on the maximum percentage of cash and investments that may be in an illiquid form as well as on the minimum percentage of unrestricted cash and liquid investment grade fixed maturity securities.

•We maintain committed borrowing facilities, as well as access to diverse funding sources, to cover contingencies. Funding sources include liquid cash and invested assets, external debt issuances and lines of credit.

Credit Risk

Credit risk represents the risk of incurring financial loss due to the diminished creditworthiness (reduced financial strength and, ultimately, possibly default) of our third-party counterparties.

We distinguish between various forms of credit exposure including the risk of issuer default from instruments in which we invest, such as corporate bonds (refer to 'Market Risk' above for a discussion of credit risk as it relates to the investment portfolio), counterparty exposure in a direct contractual relationship, such as reinsurance or loss portfolio transfers, the credit risk related to our premium balances receivable, including those from brokers and other intermediaries, and the risk we assume through our insurance contracts, such as our credit and political risk, and credit and surety lines of business.

Credit Risk Aggregation

Refer to Item 8, Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Commitment and Contingencies' – Concentration of Credit Risk – Credit Risk Aggregation

Credit Risk Relating to Cash and Investments

Refer to Item 8, Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Commitment and Contingencies' – Concentration of Credit Risk – Cash and Investments

Credit Risk Relating to Reinsurance Recoverables

Refer to Item 8, Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Commitment and Contingencies' – Concentration of Credit Risk – Reinsurance Recoverable on Unpaid and Paid Losses and Loss Expenses

Credit Risk Relating to Premium Balances Receivable

Refer to Item 8, Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Commitment and Contingencies' – Concentration of Credit Risk – Insurance and Reinsurance Premium Balances Receivable

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Credit Risk Relating to our Underwriting Portfolio

We provide credit insurance primarily for lenders (financial institutions) and commodity traders seeking to mitigate the risk of non-payment from their borrowers and trading counterparties. This product complements our traditional political risk insurance business. For the credit insurance contracts, it is necessary for the buyer of the insurance, most often a bank or commodity trader, to hold an insured asset, most often an underlying loan, or sale and purchase contract in order to claim compensation under the insurance contract. The majority of the credit insurance provided is for single-name illiquid risks that can be individually analyzed and underwritten, primarily in the form of senior secured bank loans but also unsecured payment obligations in the case of shorter term trade credit. As part of the underwriting process, an evaluation of creditworthiness and reputation of the obligor is critical. We also provide loan portfolio coverage of Significant Risk Transfer securitizations and other structured portfolio solutions. We generally require our clients to retain a share of each transaction that we insure. A key element to our underwriting analysis is the assessment of recovery in the event of default, and, accordingly, the strength of the collateral and the enforceability of rights to the collateral are paramount.

Generally, we do not underwrite insurance for structured finance products that would expose us to mark-to-market losses. In addition, our credit insurance contracts typically do not include terms which would introduce liquidity risk, most notably in the form of a collateralization requirement upon a ratings downgrade.

We also provide protection against sovereign default or sovereign actions that result in impairment of cross-border investments for banks and corporations. Our contracts generally include conditions precedent to our liability relating to the enforceability of the insured transaction and restricting amendments to the transaction documentation, obligations on the insured to prevent and minimize losses, subrogation rights, including rights to have the insured asset transferred to us, and waiting periods. Under most of our policies, a loss payment is made in the event that the debtor failed to pay our client when payment is due subject to a waiting period of up to 180 days.

In addition, we provide surety bonds to large corporate and commercial clients, and to mid to large sized construction clients.

We provide reinsurance of credit, political risk and surety bond insurers exposed to the risks of financial loss arising from non-payment of trade receivables or other credit obligations covered by a policy (credit insurance) or non-performance of obligations (surety). Our credit reinsurance exposures are concentrated within developed economies, our political risk exposures are concentrated in developing economies and our surety bond exposures are diversified mostly between developed economies and Latin America. Surety reinsurance provides protection for losses arising from a broad array of surety bonds issued by insurers to satisfy regulatory demands, contract and commercial obligations in a variety of jurisdictions around the world. We provide coverage to the mortgage industry through insurance and reinsurance of mortgage insurance companies, U.S. government-sponsored entity credit risk sharing transactions, and other mortgage market participants. We focus on credit risk transfer from Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and Federal National Mortgage Association, in the single-family, fixed rate, conforming mortgage space. We also provide this cover globally in a select number of developed countries. These entities seek to manage their credit risk exposure emanating from defined pools of mortgage loans. Our exposure to credit risk (credit, surety and mortgage) is monitored and managed through robust underwriting within defined parameters for credit quality and concentration, continuous monitoring of the housing and credit markets, as well as limits on our PML resulting from a severe economic downturn.

Operational Risk

Operational risk represents the risk of loss as a result of inadequate processes, system and network failures, human error or external events, including but not limited to direct or indirect financial loss, reputational damage, customer dissatisfaction, and legal and regulatory penalties.

Group Risk is responsible for coordinating and overseeing a group-wide framework for monitoring operational risk management. As part of this oversight, we facilitate the identification, assessment and management of key operational risks through several processes, risk assessments, operational risk events and various stress testing exercises.

We manage transaction type operational risks through the application of process controls throughout our business.

We also maintain an operational risk event database (containing both actual events as well as near misses) to help us monitor and analyze potential operational risk issues, identify any trends, and, where necessary, put in place improvement actions to avoid occurrence or recurrence of operational events.

We supplement this with thematic deep dive reviews to identify the key drivers of risk and review and challenge the appropriateness of current mitigation strategies and make recommendations for improvement.

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We have specific processes and systems in place to focus on high priority operational matters which are described below:

•Major failures and disasters that could cause a severe disruption to working environments, facilities, and personnel, represent a significant operational risk to our business. Our Business Continuity Management framework strives to protect critical business services and the functions that support these business services from these effects to enable us to carry out our core tasks on time and at the quality required.

•We have developed a number of Information Technology ("IT") platforms, applications and security controls to support our business activities worldwide. Dedicated security standards are in place for our IT systems to ensure the proper use, availability and protection of our information assets.

•We have enhanced our governance processes for the prioritization of projects, to ensure greater transparency of the decision-making process, the alignment of teams working on the same projects, consistency of approach and alignment to strategy.

•We have enhanced our operational resilience to business interruption events, to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions while maintaining essential functions and services. This is achieved by identifying the important business services to the company and defining impact tolerances. A regular testing cycle is in place for continuous improvement and identifying potential vulnerabilities.

•Our use of third-party vendors exposes us to a number of increased operational risks, including the risk of security breaches, fraud, non-compliance with laws and regulations or internal guidelines and inadequate service. We manage material third-party vendor risk, by, among other things, performing a thorough due diligence of potential large vendors and maintaining a dedicated vendor management office that oversees an established framework of approved policies, procedures, and performance‑monitoring practices throughout the lifecycle of engagements.

Capital Management

Our capital management goal is to maximize long-term shareholder value by, among other things, optimizing capital allocation and minimizing our cost of capital. We manage our capital in accordance with our Capital Management Policy. We hold an adequate level of capital for business and investment opportunities as well as risk and shock events. We ensure our capital levels satisfy our minimum solvency targets including our own view of risk from our internal capital model and regulatory and rating agency capital requirements, which are described below:

•Internal risk capital - We use our internal capital model to assess the capital consumption of our business, measuring and monitoring the potential aggregation of risk at extreme return periods.

•Regulatory capital requirements - In each country in which we operate, the local regulator specifies the minimum amount and type of capital that each of the regulated entities must hold in support of their liabilities and business plans. We target to hold, in addition to the minimum capital required to comply with the solvency requirements, an adequate buffer to ensure that each of our regulated entities meets its local capital requirements. Refer to Item 8, Note 22 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 'Statutory Financial Information' for further details.

•Rating agency capital requirements - Rating agencies apply their own models to evaluate the relationship between the required risk capital of a company and its available capital resources. The assessment of capital adequacy is usually an integral part of the rating agency process. Meeting rating agency capital requirements and maintaining strong credit ratings are strategic business objectives of the Company. Refer to Item 7 'Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources' for further details.

Our capital management strategy identifies the point at which management needs to consider raising capital, amending our business plan or executing capital management activities well before capital approaches the minimum requirements ("early warning indicator"). This allows us to take appropriate measures to ensure the continued strength and appropriateness of our capital and solvency positions, and enables us to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Such measures are performed as and when required and include traditional capital management tools (e.g., dividends, share buy-backs, issuance of shares or debt) or through changes to our risk exposure (e.g., recalibration of our investment portfolio or changes to our reinsurance purchasing strategy).

We also consider an amount of capital beyond which capital could be considered "excess". Where we do not find sufficiently attractive opportunities and returns for our excess capital, we may return capital to our shareholders through share repurchases and/or dividends. In doing so, we seek to maintain an appropriate balance between higher returns for our shareholders and the security provided by a sound capital position.