Company: AXS-PE
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001214816-25-000056
Chunk: 243

Company: AXIS CAPITAL HOLDINGS LTD
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 243
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 of COVID-19 and mitigating measures caused unprecedented disruptions to the global economy and normal business operations across sectors and countries, including the sectors and countries in which we operate. Future pandemics or other outbreaks of contagious diseases may result in similar or worse economic implications and disruptions.

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. 

Our investment portfolios are exposed to significant capital markets risk related to changes in interest rates, credit spreads and equity prices, as well as other risks, which may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

The performance of our cash and investments portfolio has a significant impact on our financial results. A failure to successfully execute our investment strategy could have a significant impact on our results of operations or financial condition.

Our investment portfolio is subject to a variety of market risks, including risks relating to general economic conditions, interest rate fluctuations, equity price risk, foreign currency movements, pre-payment or reinvestment risk, liquidity risk and credit risk. We manage market risks through, among other things, stressing diversification and conservation of principal and liquidity in our investment guidelines. An extended period of poor global financial market returns would adversely impact the value of our investment portfolio. 

Fixed maturities, which represent 84% of our total investments and 70% of total cash and investments at December 31, 2024, may be adversely impacted by changes in interest rates or credit spreads. Increases in yields could cause the fair value of our investment portfolio to decrease, resulting in a lower book value (refer to Item 7A 'Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk' for further details) and capital resources. A decline in yields may result in reductions in our investment income as new funds and proceeds from sales and maturities of fixed income securities are reinvested at lower rates. This reduces our overall future profitability. Interest rates and credit spreads are highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental and central bank monetary policies, inflation, domestic and international economic and political conditions, corporate profitability and other factors beyond our control. 

Our portfolios of "other investments" and equity securities expose us to market price variability, driven by a number of factors outside of our control including, but not limited to, global equity market performance. Given our reliance on external investment managers, we are also exposed to operational risks, which may include, but are not limited to, a failure