This year's Annual Review reports strong financial results, continued strategic progress and enhanced support for shipowners operating in an increasingly complex and uncertain global environment.
Please use the tabs at the top of this page, or the arrows at the bottom, to move between each section of the report.
This year's Annual Review reports strong financial results, continued strategic progress and enhanced support for shipowners operating in an increasingly complex and uncertain global environment.
Please use the tabs at the top of this page, or the arrows at the bottom, to move between each section of the report.
You can choose to view our Annual Review online, or download it as a PDF.
Throughout 2025, geopolitical risk increasingly shaped the day to day operating environment for shipowners.
Conflict in the Middle East from Gaza to the Persian Gulf, the continuation of the war in Ukraine, the uncertainty caused by changing tariffs, and the steady expansion of sanctions regimes all combined to undermine predictability in trade, compliance and insurance. Shipowners faced higher costs, greater operational disruption and a more complex liability landscape, often driven by events entirely outside their control.
Similarly, while 2025 was a more normalised year for pool claims generally, recent developments on prior pool years – including key settlements in the Dali claim – highlight the potential for extraordinary losses.
In this environment, the mutual model and the protections of the International Group (IG) have yet again proved their worth – enabling individual shocks to be absorbed collectively. The teams at NorthStandard have worked tirelessly with Members, helping them navigate that complexity in a way that protects their long‑term interests, and ensuring timely access to the right cover and service.
Members continue to recognise and value NorthStandard’s commitment to their commercial interests, and the collaborative way in which our teams work. This approach is reinforced by our market leading loss prevention capability, which is grounded in practical maritime expertise, deep claims insight, high quality data and carefully chosen partnerships.
This focus on our Members is reflected in our service metrics. During the year, our teams achieved a Net Promoter Score of +62, continuing with our strong performance over the past two years, and demonstrating sustained confidence in the quality of our service through periods of heightened claims activity and geopolitical volatility. Maintaining this level of endorsement is not taken for granted. It reflects a deliberate emphasis on responsiveness, clarity and consistency — and on supporting Members not only when outcomes are straightforward, but also when situations are complex.
The teams at NorthStandard have worked tirelessly with Members, helping them navigate that complexity in a way that protects their long‑term interests
With over three years since the legal formation of NorthStandard, we are now able to look back and reflect on the benefits delivered across three areas – firstly, in improving our service offering for Members, through the development of our Specialty lines, new offices, new partnerships, and expanded resources; secondly, in our improved capital position and reduced financial volatility; and thirdly, in maintaining Member and employee satisfaction while reducing costs.
We established two new sectors during the year – Upstream Energy and Marine & Energy Liabilities. These build on our capabilities and experience within Offshore & Renewables, and allow us to offer meaningful capacity and support to Members and brokers across a broader range of marine and energy related risks. More generally across P&I, we saw strong support from existing Members alongside selective new Member growth, reflecting our focus on portfolio quality.
We continued to invest in innovation across the Club, focused on finding, developing and delivering solutions that respond quickly to the practical needs of our Members and other stakeholders. This included Port Risks Online, a new feature on GlobeView, our maritime intelligence platform – this automatically provides Members with proactive advice when AIS is updated on vessels.
We took the opportunity during the year to review and strengthen our overall approach to Sustainability, and to streamline our sustainability framework into three clear pillars – around our own operations, how we support Members, and how we support our people and communities. Our financial performance over the year also improved – large claims activity returned to levels more consistent with historic experience, with our combined ratio falling to 105.5%. The club also gained from a strong investment performance and longer-term merger benefits.
We look to the future with realism and an appetite to fulfil our potential. The external environment will remain uncertain, but NorthStandard enters the next phase with an even clearer sense of what it takes to perform well in that environment, based on our unwavering commitment to Members.
On behalf of NorthStandard’s leadership, management team, and employees, we thank you, our Members and brokers for your ongoing trust, loyalty, and commitment.
In this Q&A, Managing Directors Paul Jennings and Jeremy Grose reflect on the year just gone, how NorthStandard is responding to an evolving risk landscape, and the priorities guiding the year ahead. They also discuss performance, strategy and service, and share how we are supporting Members and partners with clarity, resilience and long-term value.
as at 20 February 2026
NorthStandard, with our enhanced ‘A’ stable rating from S&P Global, is one of the world’s largest providers of mutual maritime cover with annual premium income of US$938 million, free reserves of US$923 million, a net combined ratio of 105.5% and mutual poolable tonnage exceeding 270m GT.
2024/25: 886m
2023/24: 836m
2022/23: 796m*
2021/22: 700m*
2024/25: 5.9%
2023/24: 4.9%
2022/23: (4.5)%*
2021/22: (1.5)%*
2024/25:113.8%
2023/24: 93.2%
2022/23: 95.2%*
2021/22: 106.7%*
Feb 2025: 800m
Feb 2024: 803m
Feb 2023: 686m*
Feb 2022: 744m*
Stable
AAA Capital Strength
NorthStandard has seen a significant improvement in its combined ratio, reducing from 113.8% in 2024/25 to 105.5% in 2025/26. This reflects a range of different factors. The club has benefited from a reduction in the number and value of the club’s own large claims (from a record high in 2024/25) and a strong performance from our Specialty sectors, however this has been partly offset by continued activity on the 2024/25 pool year. The 2025/26 pool year has seen a reduction in claims from 2024/25, but is still considerably higher than the previous two policy years.
The Club’s investments had another strong year, returning 9.5%, compared with 5.9% in the previous year. NorthStandard has a prudent investment policy which matches claims liabilities with government and corporate bonds. This matching strategy limits the impact of fluctuating interest (and exchange rates) as while increased interest rates reduces the value of our government and corporate bonds, this is offset by an increase in the discount applied to our claims liabilities (in our regulatory and S&P capital calculations). A portion of the surplus is invested in Growth assets such as equities, property, loans and private securities. During the year we completed a full review and restructuring of our investment portfolio. The club’s improved capital position supported a higher allocation to growth assets which can be expected to produce higher returns over the longer term.
These growth assets performed strongly during the year, producing double digit returns. Equities led the way, with performance supported by continued momentum in AI related investments and expectations of stable or easing interest rates, which more than offset the dampening effects of tariffs. The club remains prudent in its allocation of surplus investments to avoid being overexposed to short term market volatility (such as that seen in recent months). The matching assets also performed well, recording capital gains on top of a healthy yield.
The combined effect of this performance is that free reserves have increased by US$123 million to US$923 million, strengthening our capital coverage above the Standard & Poor’s “AAA” level. While this is positive news, the IG pool continues to see a growth in the average value of pool claims, and experience over recent years shows that the number of these claims can fluctuate significantly year on year. Along with the uncertain geo-political environment and resulting volatility in investment returns seen in recent months, this demonstrates the importance of holding a sizeable capital buffer.
Following a relatively benign Pool claims environment for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 Policy Years, the 2024/25 and 2025/26 policy years have seen a move back towards a higher level of pool claims activity, more consistent with the 2019-2021 period.
As ever, the General Excess of Loss and Collective Overspill (“GXL”) programme underpins the extensive scope of cover that the Club offers, providing a unique level of security to the majority of the world’s shipowners.
The 2026/27 renewal of the GXL programme saw several structural changes. Layer 3 of the programme has been expanded from US$600 million excess of US$1.5 billion, to US$850 million excess of US$1.5 billion. This in turn means that the International Group (“IG”) Collective Overspill cover of US$1 billion is now excess of US$2.35 billion as opposed to US$2.1 billion in 2025/26.
Furthermore, for Layer 1 of the programme (US$650 million excess of US$100 million), the IG has expanded the number of private placements from three to four, amounting to 27.5% of Layer 1 of the programme, reducing the market share of Layer 1 from 75% to 72.5%.
Hydra continues to retain an Annual Aggregate Deductible (“AAD”), which has reduced to USD 103.6m to align with the the 72.5% Market Share in Layer 1.
Significant cover is provided in respect of malicious cyber, COVID-19 and Pandemic risks for which free and unlimited cover is provided to US$750 million with separate annual aggregated cover of US$1.6 billion in excess of US$750 million. MLC cover and excess War P&I cover also continue to be provided within the programme.
At the twelve month point, the 2025/26 policy year continues the trend of gradual improvement over the last five policy years, although the numbers and overall value of claims are now perhaps showing signs of more consistency. This performance has been achieved despite the emergence of a small number of high value losses, although the impact of these on the club’s results continues to be mitigated by comprehensive reinsurance arrangements and capital strength.
Overall, twelve claims have been reported to the International Group (IG) Pool for the 2025/26 policy year, and the values reported so far highlight the IG’s continued exposure to infrequent but significant losses. NorthStandard has reported four pool claims to date for the 2025/26 policy year.
On the non-pool programme, there were two claims in excess of the club’s US$5m reinsurance threshold, the same as in the prior year. Across the NorthStandard P&I bluewater business, there are 27 claims with an estimate in excess of US$1m for the 2025/26 policy year to date, representing a reduction when compared to an average of 33 such claims at the same point in time for policy years 2021-2024.
By category, cargo and admiralty claims have both reduced materially, down by 28% and 36% respectively from the previous policy year. Cargo claims have fallen from US$90.6m in 2024/25 to US$58.0m in 2025/26, while admiralty claims have reduced from US$135.2m to US$96.7m. These reductions have contributed significantly to the improved overall claims position for the 2025/26 policy year. In contrast, people claims have increased from US$56.9m in 2024/25 to US$69.5m in 2025/26, largely driven by the inherently volatile nature of people related claims exposures in the United States.
Looking ahead, the claims environment continues to be shaped by geopolitical and industry wide challenges. The ongoing Iran conflict presents heightened risks in key trading regions, including increased physical exposure to vessels and crew and the potential for delay and disruption disputes and liabilities. The conflict is also likely to result in more FD&D claims as disputes crystallise around responsibility for delays or the right to cancel contracts.
Our Loss Prevention function delivers measurable value to Members — every service we provide contributes to safety improvement, claims reduction, operational effectiveness, or sustainability and is informed by Member feedback, challenges, and claims experience.
The shipping industry is navigating profound change, as technological advancement and the transition to decarbonisation reshape how vessels are operated, crewed, and maintained. Remaining close to our Members through this transformation is fundamental to delivering real value in supporting their operations. Our Loss Prevention services evolve in step, ensuring Members can adopt new fuels, technologies, and operating models with confidence and our expertise alongside them.
As a trusted, forward-thinking partner, we provide our Members with authoritative, curiosity-driven, and data-informed guidance. And this year, we have begun to see clear evidence that our Loss Prevention initiatives are delivering measurable benefits for Members. Early results are encouraging, with data indicating tangible safety gains and improved operational performance across several programmes.
The health and wellbeing of seafarers are fundamental to the safety, efficiency, and success of ship operations. While some illness and injury claims are inevitable, many can be prevented with proactive measures. NorthStandard’s enhanced PEME (Enhanced Pre‑Employment Medical Examination) programme is now available in the Philippines, India, and Ukraine. This initiative is designed to minimise incidents and protect crew health, offering Members assurance that seafarers are fit for duty before boarding.
NorthStandard’s First Call service, which has been established in the USA for several years, has proven highly effective in reducing the overall cost of treatment and care for seafarers requiring medical attention. This service has now been extended to Brazil.
We have long been an advocate for seafarer wellbeing and remain dedicated to raising awareness and exploring innovative ways to support seafarers, thereby contributing to a safer shipping industry. NorthStandard is principal sponsor of the Safety4Sea SeaFit survey, which highlights that seafarer welfare remains on a solid footing (SEAFiT Index 70.1%) and points to clear opportunities to further strengthen wellbeing – particularly through better support for mental health, rest and recreation. This year, we are planning to launch a new initiative focused on mental health, aiming to equip seafarers with the skills to recognise early symptoms and provide mental first aid to their colleagues.
GlobeView is our enhanced maritime intelligence platform, offering quick and easy access to comprehensive insights designed to help users navigate potential threats on a global scale and plan voyages with greater confidence. Following consultation with Members and users, we developed and launched a new feature – GlobeView PRO (Port Risks Online).
The PRO functionality allows reports containing information on claims trends, as well as trading and security risks to be automatically sent to the Member for the next port of call based on the destination port entered into the vessel’s AIS system. Analysis of our internal claims data has revealed the most frequent claims types for specific ports and the GlobeView PRO platform provides detailed loss prevention advice for preventing or mitigating the most common risks. Advice on trading or commercial risks at the port, in addition to advice for preventing or mitigating these risks, is provided by our global network of correspondents.
By automatically generating these easy accessible reports, GlobeView Pro provides key port and risk information to Members and their crews, enabling them to take early proactive measures to prevent or mitigate claims, reducing the impact on their operations and any associated costs.
ETA is a continuous professional development tool designed to enhance the knowledge of bridge teams. The programme continues to see strong member uptake, with nearly 7,000 crew assessments completed to date. Collaborating with the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO), our assessment data has helped identify common ECDIS knowledge gaps and informed targeted safety insights shared with Members and the wider industry. Repeat participation has demonstrated measurable improvements in bridge team ECDIS competence, reinforcing the programme’s value. The latest version of the ETA platform was launched during the year, featuring, an AI powered ECDIS knowledge base for crews, a new survey enabling Members to better understand ECDIS specific operational challenges on board, combined with enhanced reporting tools and an upgraded user interface. The annual ETA data report, providing further detail on trends and insights, is available to Members.
The Orca SeaPod and FleetView AI platforms offer onboard crew enhanced situational awareness that dramatically improves vessel safety and operational efficiency. Member engagement with our partnership with Orca AI has been strong. Encouragingly, Orca AI’s recently published safety report indicates tangible safety gains, reflecting consistent use by bridge teams during high-traffic navigation and a significant reduction in close-quarters encounters
FleetVision from ShipIn utilises camera technology blended with AI to monitor and report on shipboard operations, automatically identifying and reporting risks and nonconformances. In 2025 we relaunched our partnership with ShipIn, with a renewed focus on supporting Member trials and adoption. The relaunch has generated strong interest, and ShipIn’s analysis indicates a sustained reduction in non-conformities over time following implementation. The data also suggests that approximately 30% of vessels account for around 60% of identified nonconformities, enabling Members to target improvement activity where it will have the greatest operational impact and return on investment.
Over 20 NorthStandard Members have taken advantage of reduced transaction fees for FuelEU maritime trading using the BetterSea platform. Furthermore, a joint webinar with BetterSea helped Members prepare for their FuelEU surplus and deficit trading. The NorthStandard team is working closely with BetterSea on a range of service enhancements for launch later in 2026.
Biofuel use and test analysis has now increased significantly. NorthStandard is the only IG club to provide Members with VPS fuel test data for biofuels and other alternative fuels at no additional cost. NorthStandard has also worked with VPS and World Fuel to author a biofuel whitepaper to guide Members on quality controls and sustainability criteria.
NorthStandard partnered with Signol, a behaviour change platform that helps maritime crews reduce fuel consumption by engaging and motivating them to implement fuel saving practices on board more frequently. This partnership offers an exclusive discount to NorthStandard Members. By providing personalised goals and insights through a web app and email, Signol empowers captains and chief engineers to improve efficiency without additional workload or retrofitting hardware.
World events have emphasised the importance of the shipping industry to global prosperity as never before.
Our External Affairs team has secured influential access to policymakers and legislators and is uniquely placed to highlight relevant maritime issues and support better, more informed policy choices. The team collaborates across the world with governments and policymakers to communicate directly with the shipping industry.
NorthStandard is increasing our participation in some of the most influential policy fora to improve and shape the delivery of new policy across the three megatrends of geopolitics, maritime decarbonisation and new technology. For example, our collaboration with the Royal United Services Institute has allowed us to highlight the consequences of EU / G7 sanctions’ policies which have created a growing fleet of sanctioned, elderly, commercially impaired vessels which cannot be scrapped. This unintended consequence raises profound issues around seafarer welfare and of course the environment. We are also working with the Global Maritime Forum which has established a Maritime Governance Taskforce to consider how best to reconcile the need for rules, when the existing conventions are unable to address the geopolitical and environmental challenges posed by today’s world.
As geopolitics, decarbonisation and technology reshape shipping, informed advocacy has never mattered more
Our expertise is widely sought after, be it to support US Government sanctions training in Asia or being invited to join the likes of Rolls Royce, Babcock and Lloyds Register as part of the UK Maritime Nuclear consortium - the purpose of which is to accelerate understanding of the deployment of nuclear technology at sea.
NorthStandard has never been better placed to promote Member’s interests. Ongoing projects with the likes of the world-renowned foreign policy institute Chatham House will allow the club to further increase shipping’s profile, highlighting its importance and the support it needs to address the challenges of the future.
P&I clubs operate at the intersection of commerce, law and geopolitics – and NorthStandard works intensively with Members when the risk environment changes at short notice, as illustrated by developments in relation to the Strait of Hormuz.
Following the outbreak of hostilities, a vast amount of guidance, largely FD&D, was provided to Members on a wide range of claims and enquiries. The claims teams supported Members on issues such as the validity of charterparty orders to proceed into or out of the Persian Gulf, the impact of war risks clauses, whether charterparties might be frustrated, and who is liable for any additional costs incurred (including additional war risks premium). In addition to Member-specific advice, the claims teams were active in providing general guidance on the club’s well-populated Iran Conflict page of the NorthStandard website. In terms of substantive claims, the club has been notified of a limited number of War matters related to the situation in and around the Strait of Hormuz but is not anticipating significant exposure, as the club is well protected by reinsurance.
With our enhanced War risks capability providing limits of up to $350m, NorthStandard has continued to provide cover for operations within the Persian Gulf, and was amongst the first carriers to support transits through the Strait of Hormuz, doing so on a 100% lead basis. NorthStandard remains committed to supporting Members’ trading activities, including voyages exiting the region, while maintaining prudent underwriting discipline.
Following receipt of Notice of Cancellation from reinsurers in respect of certain war risks that are reinsured by the club in the commercial market, on 1 March the club issued corresponding Notice of Cancellation in respect of those same war risks, specifically war risks arising for vessels and/or entries in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. NorthStandard has, through a selection of reinsurances, provided support to those Members wishing to buy-back cover now otherwise excluded up to limits of US$500m, with both cover and rates remaining under continual review given the fluidity of events in the Middle East. Both coverage terms and rating levels remain under continuous review, reflecting the evolving and uncertain nature of the situation in the Middle East.
Even in the most volatile environments, our focus remains enabling Members to trade – through practical guidance and support
NorthStandard’s award-winning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme reflects our commitment to generating positive social and environmental impact worldwide.
Through volunteering, support for local projects, match funding, and staff nominated charitable donations, we focus on making a meaningful difference in each of the communities where we live and work. Find out more about our global CSR activities, the causes we support and the impact we have achieved in our Sustainability Report.
We are committed to supporting our remarkable global talent, recognising that their wellbeing and professional development are fundamental to our success. By providing the right resources, an inclusive and supportive environment, and meaningful opportunities to grow, we empower our people to deliver outstanding support to our Members, both now and in the future.
Significant improvement again to employee engagement that outperformed both global and UK benchmarks, demonstrating that we are a good place to work and that employees are proud of our culture
Expanded our office in Ireland, strengthened our Technology team, recruited and promoted a wide range of talented colleagues
Successfully launched our global learning management system delivering online, micro and personalised learning and an effective solution for mandatory training administration
Simplified and improved our performance management with employees reporting better quality feedback and fairer performance evaluation, with completion rates exceeding benchmarks
Introduced a range of innovative and market leading benefits including carers leave, neonatal care fertility leave, menopause support, senior care concierge and later life coaching to attract and retain employees
Image: Dublin office opening
We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where diverse perspectives are valued and everyone has equal opportunity to succeed. Key initiatives include:
Shadow Leadership Team, Reverse Mentoring programme and Women’s Mentoring Network, supporting diverse perspectives and future leadership capability
Sponsorship of Festival of the Girl – giving girls aged 7-11 in Newcastle a chance to break down stereotypes, build confidence and show the next generation all the incredible opportunities available to them
Story telling campaigns where colleagues shared their stories about invisible disabilities, black culture and local culture
Creation of interactive diversity dashboard improving transparency and reinforcing our inclusive culture
Raising awareness through celebrating events such as Pride, Neurodiversity, Wellbeing, International Women’s and International Men’s Day
Ioanna Procopiou stepped down from her position as Vice Chair of the NSUK Board in November 2025, as she moves on to a new role at BIMCO. Having joined in 2018, Ioanna brought with her a wealth of expertise in the international shipping sector – and, during her tenure, she served on the Group Audit Committee and the Group Nominations & Remuneration Committee, while also playing a key and instrumental role in ensuring the success of the merger. Ioanna will remain on the Members Board where we look forward to continuing to benefit from her insight. The Board would like to thank Ioanna for her significant contribution and commitment during her time as a director.
In February 2025 we welcomed Lars Henneberg (A.P. Moller Maersk) to the Board of Directors, bringing vast industry knowledge and experience. Lars has already contributed to the Club through his role on the Members Board and, prior to the merger, as a Standard Club Director. Lars holds a number of industry appointments and we look forward to benefiting from his expertise as we continue to develop.
NorthStandard maintained poolable tonnage at 270M GT, following a renewal focused on rebalancing our global risk portfolio.
We create value for Members by growing and diversifying, innovating and leading, and investing in the future.
Across our core P&I business, we have continued to grow, welcoming a number of new Members during the year from Singapore, China, Japan, Korea, the US, Brazil, India and the UAE. We have established NorthStandard as a leading choice for shipowners across various segments when considering their options for a new club. Our service proposition remains a key differentiator, allied to our strengthening financial position and diversified product offerings.
Alongside this new business growth, we enjoy the continued commitment and support of our existing Members, as evidenced through renewal outcomes and expected growth arising from fleet expansion and new acquisitions committed during the year.
Within our Coastal & Inland and Sunderland Marine sectors, we continue to offer well established propositions for small and specialised vessels operating in a strong mutual environment. During the year, we consolidated the two teams under common leadership, strengthening collaboration and sharing Member and broker relationships, pipelines and market insight. This integration supports a clearer ‘One Stop-Shop” proposition, bringing P&I and H&M together in one place to make doing business simpler for brokers and Members, while providing greater certainty of cover.
Alongside these structural changes, we undertook a focused portfolio review to further strengthen the underlying business, maintaining strict underwriting discipline, high service standards and a sustainable approach to supporting our Members.
The 2025 policy year marked 50 years since the first offshore risk was entered in the club and was focused on consolidating the growth achieved in recent policy years, embedding the relationship with NIORD, a key partner in offshore renewables, and working closely with our new colleagues in the Upstream Energy and Marine & Energy liability sectors. 2026 is another exciting year for the sector as it marks 20 years since we set-up a specialist offering in this space.
We took a strategic decision during the year to exit the aquaculture sector, due to a deteriorating outlook. This move allows us to redeploy capital and management focus toward areas that are more closely aligned with our core Members’ needs and where we can deliver stronger, more sustainable value.
We are fortunate to be market leaders in the maritime delay space, and our position has strengthened further this year as we continued to sustainably grow the book. Strike & Delay is a discretionary cover taken up by owners and charterers who say that it unlocks new trading opportunities, provides balance sheet protection and releases capital for other initiatives.
Hull & War remains an important and well‑established part of NorthStandard’s portfolio, having delivered consistent, profitable performance over time. During the year, we made strong progress in developing our War offering for clients, in response to heightened geo-economic tensions and increased demand for specialist cover. Activity in the War market remained high and conditions continue to be unpredictable. In this environment, we have focused on disciplined underwriting, technical expertise and responsive support for Members and brokers, ensuring that the Hull & War business is well-positioned to meet evolving risks.
We continue to advance our diversification strategy, establishing two new sectors during the year: Upstream Energy and Marine & Energy Liabilities. Building on our capabilities and experience within Offshore & Renewables, these sectors are designed to offer meaningful capacity and support to Members and brokers across a broader range of marine and energy related risks. Whilst there is natural overlap with our Offshore & Renewables membership, both Upstream Energy and Marine & Energy Liabilities also write business that sits independently of this, extending our relevance across the wider value chain. Together, these sectors enhance our ability to meet Members’ and brokers’ evolving needs.
NorthStandard’s people are our greatest strength. Our teams’ expertise and deep understanding of our Members underpins everything we do. We continue to invest in AI-enabled solutions to support this expertise - enhancing efficiency, improving insight and strengthening the service we deliver.
These tools are designed to complement, not replace, human decision-making, ensuring our Members benefit from both experience and innovation.
Over the past year, NorthStandard has made significant progress in establishing Artificial Intelligence as a core strategic capability, moving from early experimentation to production deployment.
We have launched several internal AI tools, with our greatest focus on how we share claims and loss prevention insight and how we improve critical processes.
We have executed against our “test and learn” approach - building foundational skills and piloting use cases - while beginning the transition towards scaling AI across the organisation in production. This has ensured that AI is not treated as isolated innovation, but as an integrated part of our broader digital evolution.
A key achievement has been the successful delivery of AI solutions into production, demonstrating tangible business application beyond proof of concept. Our internal claims and loss prevention insight solution “ChatNS” moved from pilot to production, while two agentic AI solutions progressed through proof of concept (POC) successfully. Our agentic AI solution for sanctions screening is already in production, and a second agentic AI solution for claims handling is due to go-live mid-2026. These initiatives represent an important shift from experimentation to embedded workflow automation, with a clear focus on augmenting core insurance processes and improving operational efficiency.
We have also scaled adoption of AI tools across the workforce, most notably through the rollout of Microsoft Copilot where we see extensive usage across a large proportion of our colleague base. This has driven improvements in day-to-day productivity, while also contributing to a rapid uplift in AI literacy across both business and technology teams. In parallel, developer-focused AI tooling such as Claude Code has been deployed across internal and partner engineering teams, supporting improvements in software delivery speed and quality.
Finally, our approach has been shaped by a clear understanding of the wider industry context, where many organisations remain in experimental phases and struggle to realise measurable returns from AI investment. Against this backdrop, NorthStandard has prioritised a focused set of use cases and has begun the process of embedding AI into core workflows. While the full financial impact of AI will emerge over time, the progress made this year—across capability building, production deployment, workforce adoption, and governance—provides a strong foundation for scaling AI-driven value in the years ahead.
We are proud to have delivered against the ambitions we set ourselves at the time of the merger.
38% growth in specialty since the merger (from US$205 million pre-merger to US$309 million in 2025/26) with particularly strong growth across Offshore & Renewables and Hull & War.
Launch of Coastal & Inland and Sunderland Marine joint product for Hull and P&I.
Renewables partnership with NIORD / Norwegian Hull Club generating premium income and access to new expertise.
Recruitment of team to launch Upstream Energy and Marine & Energy Liabilities sectors and expecting to write US$30+ million by 2028/29.
Consistent performance with 90% or less combined ratio (average 86%) and delivered US$79 million underwriting contribution by end of 2025/26.
Orca AI partnership rolled out to 12 Members and 169 vessels,
Platform deal agreed and 25 Members signed up with BetterSea, data access deal agreed and 640 platform users with VPS.
At launch, S&P upgraded NorthStandard to an “A” rating with a stable outlook, an immediate improvement from the previous negative outlook.
Improved capital position from a marginal surplus over the AAA benchmark to a more adequate buffer as at 20 February 2026.
Free reserves increased from US$696 million to US$923 million, an increase of 32.6%, by 20 February 2026.
Transitioned to combined investment portfolio with more competitive strategic asset allocation returning 9.5% in 2025/26, with returns of 5.9% in 2024/25 and 4.9% in 2023/24 supporting overall financial position.
Absorbed 5 pool claims + other large claims in 2025/26 with a combined ratio of 114%. The 2026 General Increase was set at an inflationary rate of 5%, demonstrating our ability to manage claims volatility.
Maintained very high levels of loyalty and support amongst Members and Brokers, achieving an ‘excellent’ Net Promoter Scores in excess of +50 Scores each year
Despite projections of a 6% membership loss due to concentrated fleet entries in a single club, we successfully grew poolable tonnage from 255m GT in 2023/24 to 270m GT at February 2026.
Grew overall premium from US$796 million pre-merger to US$938 million for 2025/26.
Reduced like-for-like reinsurance spend by US$16.4 million
Increased overall efficiency by reducing the expense ratio, resulting in US$9 million saved in people costs and an additional US$12.5 million saved in other operational expenses, including offices, legal and professional services, investment management, and technology.
Saved US$2.4 million in technology costs through insourcing strategy whilst maintaining overall level and spread of resourcing to deploy on technology development.
Consolidated data platform providing opportunity to leverage larger dataset and single claims management system to drive future efficiency.
We see sustainability as an important driver of long-term success, helping us respond to changing expectations, manage emerging risks and opportunities, and support progress across the industry.
Over the past year we have reviewed and strengthened our overall approach to sustainability. A key catalyst for this was our double materiality assessment which gave us a clearer understanding of the sustainability challenges most relevant to our business and stakeholders. This in turn helped us streamline our sustainability framework into three clear pillars, making it easier to organise our activity, communicate our priorities and explain how sustainability links to our strategy and day-today operations. Alongside this, we professionalised our approach through an enhanced governance structure, including establishing a new internal Sustainability Committee, providing stronger oversight and a more consistent basis for decision-making, delivery and reporting. Further information is set out in our Sustainability Report.
