Westfield Specialty rebalances as property competition intensifies

Westfield Specialty is prioritising profitability over top-line growth as increased competition puts pressure on pricing in parts of the specialty market, according to CEO Jack Kuhn.

Speaking at RVS 2026 in Monte Carlo, Kuhn said Westfield Specialty, which marked its fifth anniversary in July, expects to finish 2026 with around $2.3bn-$2.4bn of premium.

“It’s not about growth for us. It’s really about the profitability of the portfolio,” Kuhn told GR.

“The more diverse we can be in higher-margin businesses, that’s kind of what the focus is.”

Westfield has continued to expand its offering, including investments in reinsurance, energy and property, while launching an international cyber operation earlier this year.

But Kuhn said the group is prepared to pull back where market conditions no longer meet its return requirements.

Property is the clearest example, he emphasised.

“We have shrunk our [property] underwriting from last year to where we are right now,” he said. “We are significantly behind our plan numbers on the property side because we’re trying to make sure we are selective on the portfolio.”

Kuhn said Westfield’s diversified book has allowed other areas to compensate, with opportunities internationally in energy, marine and reinsurance, alongside accident and health and inland marine in the US.

The benefits of diversification could become increasingly important as pricing pressure spreads, he suggested.

“We are starting to see the beginnings of the slowing down of positive rate on the casualty side,” Kuhn said.

He attributed this partly to carriers moving into the class as growth becomes harder to achieve elsewhere.

“Each area has its own issues or it’s at a different point in the market cycle. It’s not one size fits all.”

Kuhn also expects further change from consolidation across insurance distribution, while artificial intelligence (AI) presents efficiency opportunities as well as potential for new exposures for underwriters to weigh up.

Technology is allowing underwriters to spend more time underwriting rather than gathering and processing information, but Kuhn warned against moving too quickly.

“The use of AI and the impact of AI has moved at such a fast pace,” Kuhn said. “I do get concerned that companies do not understand the risks and the exposures that they’re taking on with the use of AI.”

For Westfield, Kuhn said the strategy remains to identify areas where the carrier can selectively “lean into” attractive risk-adjusted returns rather than chase premium.

“We always keep an open mind and look for areas that we can identify with high margins that are going to be accretive to the portfolio,” he added.