Section 172 (1) Statement

Argenta Holdings Limited

The Directors of Argenta Holdings Limited and its UK subsidiary companies confirm that in discharging their duty to promote the success of the company, they have regard to the matters as set out in Section 172(1) (a) to (f) ("s172") of the Companies Act 2006 ("CA").

The Directors are aware of their responsibilities to take into consideration the interests of all stakeholders in their decision making process and to promote the success of the Group in accordance with s172. The Directors continue to pay full regards to the interests of the Group's stakeholders, including the impact of its activities on its employees, shareholder, capital providers, regulators, customers, suppliers, the community, the environment and on the Group's reputation. Whilst always acting in good faith and exercising fairness and equality, the Directors also consider what is most likely to promote the success of the Group in the interests of its member.

The importance of giving due consideration to all stakeholders is a continuous and ongoing process and includes the following:

• The Directors fully understand the commitment to act responsibly towards the Group shareholder and act in accordance with the standards set by them.
• The Directors continue to promote the success of the Group through expansion of its activities as referred to in the Group's Strategic Report. The Group's current dividend policy is to retain all profits for reinvestment and development of the business. At the end of the year agreement was reached for a new casualty team to join the group to start underwriting with effect from 1 January 2020. Hannover Re agreed to supply the additional capital required to support this underwriting through Syndicate 6134. Hannover Re is also supplying increasing levels of capital support to the core underwriting business on Syndicate 2121.
• The Group has a diversity and inclusion policy that sets out the principles underpinning the approach to ensuring fairness and equality in the workplace across all levels of the organisation. In accordance with a commitment to diversity and inclusion, the Group is signed-up to the Lloyd's Diversity and Inclusion Charter, which makes a public pledge to champion diversity and positive change. The Directors made a further commitment in 2019 to ensure that the Group maintains a healthy culture and working environment, which included a detailed review of internal policies and procedures following the results of a market-wide culture survey. The Directors emphasised this commitment to 'Respect in the workplace' through the investment in a series of training courses designed to promote a healthy working environment, with emphasis placed on maintaining a high level of safety, respect and value at every level of the organisation.
• The Directors understand that the quality and experience of their employees are fundamental to the success of the Group and the quality of its services. The Directors consider the training and development of its workforce to be key and therefore promotes a commitment to training both internally and externally. Further commitment is made in the area of continuing professional development to ensure that its diversely qualified workforce continues to maintain a competitive level of training and qualification. During the year a review focussing on talent management and succession planning was carried out with a view to developing a more robust talent management framework going forward.
• The Group is committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of its workforce, offering comprehensive health insurance and life cover and contributions to a defined contribution pension scheme. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Directors acted quickly to initiate a Group-wide working from home policy.
• The Group is fully committed to working responsibly with its suppliers ensuring that those in the supply chain do not engage in slavery or human trafficking and regularly reviews its policies and procedures to ensure that they are up to date and reflect the changing regulatory environment. In addition to a periodic review of material outsourced arrangements, there are whistleblowing procedures in place to ensure that employees can raise any concerns they may have.
• The Group has a large, diverse number of customers and capital providers associated with various divisions of its business. The subsidiary companies strive to work closely with their customers and capital providers to fully understand their needs and always operate on the basis of treating customers fairly. It continues to seek to grow Syndicate 2121 to achieve greater economies of scale and improve returns for the capital providers. It is also mindful to ensure it maintains equity between its different capital supporters. In order to be able to continue to meet the needs of its customers within the borders of the European Union post-Brexit, Syndicate 2121 now trades through the Lloyd's Brussels platform.
• The Group works very closely with Lloyd's and other regulators, including those overseas. It places a high degree of importance on understanding and fully complying with the regulatory requirements that are set.
• The Group is committed to its place in the community and engages with a number of diverse charities. The underwriting policy is aligned with that of Hannover Re, which is not to provide cover in respect of new coal-burning power stations or new thermal coal mines and the associated infrastructure on a direct or facultative reinsurance basis, and to effect a phased plan for the gradual withdrawal from such risks written on a treaty basis, by the year 2038. The bespoke investment mandate adopted by the Group is aligned with Hannover Re's environmental, social and governance criteria.

Argenta Secretariat Limited (ASL)

Where ASL provides Company Secretarial services to a company and that company is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 414CZA(1) of the CA, ASL affirms on behalf of the Directors of such companies, that they have regard to the matters set out in Section 172(1) (a) to (f) of CA when performing their duties:

a) the likely consequences of any decision in the long term;

b) the interests of the company's employees;

c) the need to foster the company's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;

d) the impact of the company's operations on the community and the environment;

e) the desirability of the company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and

f) the need to act fairly as between members of the company.

For further information as to how the Directors of each relevant company are complying with their statutory duty under s172 of the CA, please refer to the Strategic Report within the Annual Report and Financial Statements of each company which can be found on the Companies House website.