Amlin plc warned on increasing competition in the property and catastrophe reinsurance market as it reported that gross premiums written grew five percent during the first quarter, driven by strong growth in its Bermuda unit.

The British company’s operation on the Island wrote £167.4 million ($282 million) of premium during the first three months of the year, up 14.6 percent from the £146.1 million ($246 million) recorded in the same period in 2013.

On a group-wide basis, Amlin, which does most of its business in the London and European markets, wrote £1.28 billion ($2.16 billion), up from £1.22 billion a year earlier.

Amlin, which gets more than half of its catastrophe books from the US, said yesterday it was possible to achieve good margins despite a more challenging environment. Growing competition from the booming catastrophe bond market is driving prices lower.

In its interim statement for the first quarter, Amlin stated: “There is clear evidence of increasing competition in a number of business lines, most notably catastrophe reinsurance. However, good margins remain possible and, in this more challenging environment, Amlin achieved growth in catastrophe reinsurance gross written premium of 3.7 percent in the three-month period, while recording an average renewal rate decline of 8.8 percent. US catastrophe renewal rates reduced by an average of 10.3 percent, while international catastrophe renewals experienced average rate decreases of 7.3 percent.

“These rate reductions are believed to be lower than the catastrophe reinsurance market as a whole and is a result of the combination of Amlin’s highly respected traditional reinsurance offering with that of Leadenhall Capital Partners which has strengthened Amlin’s client proposition: the result has been preferential signings, access to business which is not available in the open market and, on some business, better pricing.”