MS Amlin has launched a new Lloyd's sub-syndicate to target growth opportunities and give brokers additional capacity across its specialty lines.
The vehicle, named s1673, will support business written through MS Amlin's recently formed Portfolio Solutions team, which was established to capture underwriting opportunities from the MS&AD parent group network, fast-follow relationships and business under Lloyd's innovation and transition codes.
A sub-syndicate operates within an existing syndicate's framework, using the same capital base, but with a separate identifier to track specific categories of business. At the end of 2024, Lloyd's had 84 syndicates, eight special purpose arrangements and nine syndicates in a box. Sub-syndicates sit beneath a full syndicate rather than alongside these structures.
s1673 allows MS Amlin underwriters to write additional lines on risks already placed through Syndicate 2001, increasing the insurer's share at their discretion.
For brokers, the arrangement provides access to greater capacity where risks align with the insurer's appetite. All business consolidates under Syndicate 2001.
The launch follows MS Amlin's third consecutive year of improved results. Syndicate 2001 posted underwriting profit of US$350 million for the year ending December 31, 2025, up 50.2% from US$233 million the previous year, with gross written premiums rising to US$2.9 billion.
The Lloyd's market as a whole reported profits of £10.6 billion in 2025 and a combined ratio of 87.6%.
AM Best affirmed Syndicate 2001's financial strength rating at A+ (Superior) last year, though the agency noted the syndicate's five-year weighted average combined ratio of 97.3% over 2020 to 2024 remained below the broader Lloyd's market.
s1673 references the year Mitsui Takatoshi opened textile shops in Kyōto and Edo. The enterprise grew into the Mitsui Group, one of Japan's largest conglomerates.
The modern insurance lineage runs through Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, which acquired Amlin for £3.5 billion in a deal completed in early 2016, creating MS Amlin under the MS&AD group.
The sub-syndicate also serves as a platform for testing new products and distribution approaches. Martin Burke (pictured above), MS Amlin's chief underwriting officer, said the launch "reflects our commitment to trade creatively and explore new commercial routes to sustainable, profitable growth."
Burke said s1673 would expand the Portfolio Solutions division by leveraging the parent group's international network to extend specialty solutions to new clients. It would also "serve as a home for enhanced capacity opportunities, enabling underwriters to selectively deploy more capacity to high-quality risks."
"s1673 allows us to pursue new opportunities, measure their performance clearly, and support brokers more decisively on strongly performing lines," Burke said.
