Markel (MKL) Risk Analysis

- changes from legislation, regulation, and court decisions that: ?create economic and regulatory uncertainty,?increase our compliance costs,?impose liability on or increase exposure for our policyholders not contemplated during our underwriting,?change our ability to provide insurance coverage to certain policyholders, or ?impose new or additional requirements that increase the costs associated with, or disrupt, sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution of, our products and services,- changes in the frequency, severity, and location of weather-related catastrophes, such as hurricanes, tornados, windstorms, floods, wildfires, and other extreme weather events, which may: ?result in insured losses that exceed our expectations or make it more difficult for us to predict and model catastrophic events, reducing our ability to accurately price our exposure to such events and mitigate our risks,?make it more difficult or expensive for us to obtain reinsurance at desired levels, or ?increase physical risks to and impacts on our operations,- changing demand for insurance coverage we provide, such as demand from industries that produce or use carbon-based energy including those transitioning from those energy sources, decreased availability of reinsurance available for coverages we provide for carbon intensive industries, or increased claims and losses related to those industries, and - losses on our invested assets, including from: ?changes in supply and demand,?advances in low-carbon technology and renewable energy development,?effects of extreme weather events on the physical and operational exposure of industries and issuers, and ?the transition that companies make towards addressing climate risk in their own businesses.

We have substantial international operations and investments, which expose us to increased political, civil, operational, and economic risks. A substantial portion of our revenues and income is derived from our operations and investments outside the U.S., including from the U.K., the E.U., Bermuda, Canada, and Asia Pacific. Our international operations and investments expose us to increased political, civil, operational, and economic risks. Deterioration or volatility in foreign and international financial markets or general economic and political and civil conditions could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition, and liquidity. Concerns about the economic conditions, capital markets, political, civil, and economic stability and solvency of certain countries may contribute to global market volatility. Political and civil changes in the jurisdictions where we operate and elsewhere, some of which may be disruptive, can also interfere with our customers and our activities in a particular location. Our international operations also may be subject to a number of additional risks, particularly in emerging economies, including restrictions such as price controls, capital controls, currency exchange limits, ownership limits, and other restrictive or anti-competitive governmental actions or requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our businesses. General economic, market, or industry conditions could lead to investment losses, adverse effects on our businesses, and limit our access to the capital markets. General economic and market conditions and industry specific conditions, including extended economic recessions or expansions; prolonged periods of slow economic growth; inflation or deflation; fluctuations and volatility in foreign currency exchange rates, commodity and energy prices, and interest rates; volatility in the credit and capital markets; changes in U.S. government debt ratings; the imposition of duties, tariffs, and other changes in international trade regulation and other factors, could lead to: substantial realized and unrealized investment losses in future periods; changes in the carrying value of our other assets and liabilities; declines in demand for, or increased frequency and severity of claims made under, our insurance products; disruptions in global supply chains and increased costs of inputs for our products and services; reduced demand for our services and the products we sell and distribute; and limited or no access to the capital markets. Any of these impacts could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, debt and financial strength ratings, or the adequacy of our insurance subsidiaries' capital. Many of our businesses have been, and may continue to be, adversely affected by increased costs of labor and materials and declines in demand for certain products and services due to economic and industry specific conditions. In addition, beginning in 2025, the U.S. announced a series of new or increased tariffs on certain foreign imports, some of which were recently invalidated by the Supreme Court. These tariffs, and any additional duties, tariffs, and other trade barriers, and retaliatory countermeasures by other countries, may adversely affect the price and availability of goods for our businesses and the demand for our products and services. Additionally, any such measures or countermeasures may increase inflationary pressure on our insured losses, including costs of claims, loss adjustment expenses, and other operating costs. These impacts may be material, and our efforts to mitigate these impacts may not be successful and, even when they are successful, there may be a time lag before the impacts of these efforts are reflected in our results. Our businesses, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected by ongoing regional or military conflicts and related disruptions in the global economy. The global economy has been, and may in the future be, negatively impacted by regional or military conflicts, for example, the on-going conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in Israel and surrounding areas. We may have operations in areas affected by a conflict, and some of our businesses may be adversely affected by a conflict and its effects. Within our underwriting operations, we may have insurance contracts with exposure to losses attributed or corollary to a conflict, such as losses related to our coverage of ships, cargo, trade credit and inventory. Our other operations also may have direct exposure to customers and vendors in an affected area. Certain of our businesses may experience shortages in materials and increased costs for transportation, energy, and raw materials due in part to the negative impact of a conflict on the global economy. Furthermore, governments in the U.S., U.K., and E.U., among others, may impose export controls on certain products and financial and economic sanctions on certain industry sectors and parties in affected areas. These export controls and sanctions, or our failure to comply with them, could result in restrictions on our ability to do business in one or more of the jurisdictions in which we conduct business or have the other adverse effects previously discussed under "We are subject to laws and regulations relating to economic and trade sanctions and bribery and corruption, the violation of which could have a material adverse effect on us." We are unable to predict the impact an ongoing conflict may have on our businesses or the global economy. The impact of geopolitical tensions related to these conflicts, including increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade, is unknown and could result in, among other things, heightened cybersecurity threats, supply disruptions, protracted or increased inflation, increased energy costs, lower consumer demand, fluctuations in interest and foreign exchange rates, and increased volatility in financial markets, any of which could adversely affect our businesses, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, an ongoing conflict may have the effect of triggering or intensifying many of the risks described under this Item 1A Risk Factors.

Pandemics have had, and could have, material adverse effects on us. The effects of a pandemic, and related governmental responses, may be wide-ranging, costly, and disruptive, and may develop rapidly, resulting in material adverse effects on our operations, and on our results of operations and financial condition, as was the case with COVID-19. Factors that give rise, or may give rise, to those effects include, or may include, the following, as well as others that we cannot predict: - Insured or reinsured losses from pandemic-related claims that are different, or more extensive, than we expect;- Government actions or judicial decisions related to insurance or reinsurance coverages or rates, including, for example, requiring retroactive coverage of claims or expanding the scope of coverage;- Disputes, lawsuits, and other legal actions challenging the promptness of coverage determinations, or the coverage determinations themselves, under applicable insurance or reinsurance policies, resulting in increased claims, litigation and related expenses;- Disruptions, delays, and increased costs and risks related to having limited or no access to our facilities, workplace re-entry, employee safety concerns, and reductions or interruptions of critical or essential services;- Continually changing business conditions and compliance obligations; and - Short or long-term impacts on the cost, availability, or timeliness of required raw materials, supplies, or services provided by third parties, including services provided by state, federal, or foreign governments or government agencies. In addition, a pandemic may, as was the case with COVID-19, have the effect of triggering or intensifying many of the risks described elsewhere under this Item 1A Risk Factors.

Our liquidity and our ability to meet our debt and other obligations depend on the receipt of funds from our subsidiaries. We are a holding company, and as a result, our cash flow and our ability to meet our debt and other obligations depend upon the earnings of our subsidiaries and on the distribution of earnings or other payments by our subsidiaries to us. The payment of dividends by our insurance subsidiaries, which accounts for a significant portion of our holding company operating cash flows, may require prior regulatory notice or approval or may be restricted by capital requirements imposed by regulatory authorities. Similarly, our insurance subsidiaries may require capital contributions from us to satisfy their capital requirements, particularly during periods when their capital declines due to significant declines in the fair value of the equity securities they hold. We may require additional capital in the future, which may not be available or may only be available on unfavorable terms. To the extent that cash flows generated by our businesses and investments are insufficient to fund future operating requirements, we may need to raise additional funds through financing or curtail our growth. We also may be required to liquidate fixed maturity securities or equity securities, which may result in realized investment losses. Any further sources of capital, including capacity needed for letters of credit, if available at all, may be on terms that are unfavorable to us. Our access to additional sources of capital will depend on a variety of factors, such as market conditions, the general availability of credit, the availability of credit to the industries in which we operate, our results of operations, financial condition, credit ratings, and credit capacity, as well as pending litigation or regulatory investigations. Our ability to borrow under our revolving credit facility and letter of credit facilities is contingent on our compliance with the covenants and other requirements under those facilities. Similarly, our access to capital may be impaired if regulatory authorities or rating agencies take negative actions against us. Our inability to obtain adequate capital when needed could have a negative impact on our ability to invest in, or take advantage of opportunities to expand, our businesses, such as possible acquisitions or the creation of new ventures, and inhibit our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness on terms acceptable to us. Any of these effects could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. A failure to comply with covenants and other requirements under our credit facilities, senior debt, and other indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on us. The agreements and indentures relating to our credit facilities, senior debt, and other indebtedness, including letter of credit facilities used by certain of our subsidiaries, contain covenants and other requirements. If we fail to comply with those covenants or requirements, the lenders, noteholders, or counterparties under those agreements and indentures could declare a default and demand immediate repayment of all amounts owed to them. In addition, where applicable, our lenders may cancel their commitments to lend or issue letters of credit or require us to pledge additional or a different type of collateral. A default under one debt agreement may also put us at risk of a cross-default under other debt agreements or other arrangements. Any of these effects could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Our senior debt is rated by various rating agencies, and a downgrade or potential downgrade in one or more of these ratings could have a material adverse effect on us. Our senior debt securities are rated by various rating agencies. Our senior debt ratings affect the availability and cost of capital. Our debt ratings are subject to periodic review, and are subject to revision or withdrawal at any time. We cannot be sure that we will be able to retain our current, or any future, ratings. A ratings downgrade could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, including the availability of our letter of credit facilities, limit our access to capital markets, and increase our cost of borrowing or issuing debt.

- develop products that insure risks we have not previously insured, include new coverages or change coverage terms;- change commission terms;- change our underwriting processes;- improve business processes and workflow to increase efficiencies and productivity and to enhance the experience of our customers and producers;- expand distribution channels; and - enter geographic markets where we previously have had relatively little or no market share. We may not be successful in these efforts, and even if we are successful, they may increase or create the following risks, among others: - demand for new products or expansion into new markets may not meet our expectations;- new products and expansion into new markets may increase or change our risk exposures, and the data and models we use to manage those exposures may not be as effective as those we use in existing markets or with existing products;- models underlying automated underwriting and pricing decisions may not be effective;- efforts to develop new products or markets or to change commission terms may create or increase distribution channel conflicts;- in connection with the conversion of existing policyholders to a new product, some policyholders' pricing may increase while the pricing for other policyholders may decrease, the net impact of which could negatively impact retention and profit margins;- changes to our business processes or workflow, including the use of new technologies, may give rise to execution risk and cost more and take longer than expected; and - increased usage of artificial intelligence by us and third parties and the evolving regulatory landscape may increase underwriting and regulatory risk, while also presenting opportunity risk if we do not leverage artificial intelligence appropriately. These efforts may require us to make substantial expenditures, which may negatively impact results in the near term, and if not successful, could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Information technology systems that we use could fail or suffer a security breach or cyberattack, which could have a material adverse effect on us or result in the loss of regulated or sensitive information. Our businesses are dependent upon the operational effectiveness and security of our enterprise systems and those maintained by third parties. Among other things, we rely on these systems to interact with producers, insureds, customers, clients, and other third parties, to perform actuarial and other modeling functions, to underwrite business, to prepare policies and process premiums, to process claims and make claims payments, to prepare internal and external financial statements and information, and to engage in a wide variety of other business activities. A significant failure of our enterprise systems, or those of third parties upon which we may rely, whether because of a natural disaster, network outage or a cyberattack on those systems could compromise our personal, confidential, and proprietary information as well as that of our customers and business partners, impede or interrupt our business operations and could result in other negative consequences, including remediation costs, loss of revenue, additional regulatory scrutiny and fines, litigation, and monetary and reputational damages. In addition, if we are unable to innovate, develop, and acquire new technology, it may leave us more susceptible to these attacks. Like other companies, we have been subject to cyberattacks, malicious viruses and malware, and denial of service attacks and expect that this will continue in the future with greater sophistication and frequency. The risk and severity of such attacks could increase as artificial intelligence is used by threat actors to identify vulnerabilities and conduct increasingly sophisticated attacks. Despite any controls or protective actions we take against such attacks, those measures may be insufficient to prevent, or mitigate the effects of, a natural disaster, network outage or a cyberattack on our systems. This could result in liability to us, cause our data to be corrupted or stolen and cause us to commit resources to correct those failures. In addition, we are subject to numerous data privacy and cybersecurity laws and regulations enacted in the jurisdictions in which we do business. A misuse or mishandling of personal, confidential, or proprietary information being sent to or received from a customer, business partner, employee, or third party could damage our businesses or our reputation or result in significant monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions, fines, and criminal prosecution in one or more jurisdictions. For example, under the European General Data Protection Regulation there are significant punishments for non-compliance which could result in a penalty of up to 4% of a firm's global annual revenue. In addition, a violation of data privacy laws and regulations could result in defaults under our outstanding indebtedness or credit facilities. Those monetary damages, penalties, regulatory or legal actions or defaults, or the damage to our businesses or reputation, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Third parties who we utilize to perform certain functions are also subject to these risks, and their failure to adhere to these laws and regulations also could damage our businesses or reputation or result in regulatory intervention, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Further, we routinely transmit, receive, and store personal, confidential, and proprietary information by email and other digital means. Although we attempt to protect this personal, confidential, and proprietary information, we may be unable to do so in all cases, especially with business partners and other third parties who may not have or use appropriate controls to protect personal, confidential, and proprietary information. While we maintain cyber risk insurance providing first-party and third-party coverages, that insurance may not cover all costs associated with the consequences of an enterprise failure, cyberattack, or breach of systems. A material cyber security breach could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. See also, "We may experience losses or disruptions from catastrophes and other significant, infrequent loss events." Third-party providers may perform poorly, breach their obligations to us, or expose us to enhanced risks. Certain of our business functions are performed by third-party providers, and these providers may not perform as expected or may fail to adhere to the obligations owed to us. For example, certain of our business units rely on relationships with a number of third-party administrators under contracts pursuant to which these third-party administrators manage and pay claims on our behalf and advise us with respect to case reserves. In these relationships, we rely on controls incorporated in the provisions of the administration agreement, as well as on the administrator's internal controls, to manage the claims process within our prescribed parameters. In addition, certain of our business units use managing general agents, general agents and other producers to write and administer business on our behalf within prescribed underwriting authorities. Although we monitor these administrators, agents, producers, and other service providers on an ongoing basis, our monitoring efforts may not be adequate, or our service providers could exceed their authorities or otherwise breach obligations owed to us, which could result in operational disruption, reputational damage, and regulatory intervention and otherwise have a material adverse effect on our results of operation and financial condition. In addition, we utilize third parties to perform certain technology and business process functions, such as data center hosting, cloud based operating environments, human resources, and other outsourced services. If these third-party providers do not perform as expected, we may experience operational difficulties, increased costs, and a loss of business, or we may not realize expected productivity improvements or cost efficiencies. Our use of third parties to perform certain technology and business process functions may expose us to risks related to privacy and data security, including through their use of artificial intelligence without our knowledge or below our standards, which could result in monetary and reputational damages. We may be further exposed to risks associated with artificial intelligence and machine learning technology if third-party service providers or any counterparts, whether known or unknown to us, use such technology in their business activities. In addition, our ability to receive services from third-party providers might be impacted by a wide variety of factors, including political and civil instability, supply chain disruptions, volatility, or disruptions in the financial markets, wide-spread health issues, unanticipated or additional regulatory requirements or policies. As a result, our ability to conduct our businesses may be adversely affected.

Our ILS operations involve management of third-party capital, which may expose us to risks. Our ILS operations may owe certain legal duties and obligations to third-party investors. A failure to fulfill any of those duties or obligations could result in significant liabilities, penalties, or other losses, and harm our businesses and results of operations. In addition, third-party investors may decide not to renew their investments in the funds we manage, which could materially impact the financial condition of those funds, and could, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, we may not be able to maintain or raise additional third-party capital for the funds we manage or for potential new funds and therefore we may forego existing or potential management fee generating opportunities. Our ILS operations may experience losses or disruptions from catastrophes and other significant, infrequent loss events. Losses from catastrophes and other significant, infrequent loss events may have a material adverse effect on the ability of our ILS operations to raise and retain investor capital, resulting in a decline in assets under management and in turn, reduce potential management fee generating opportunities. We use various modeling techniques and data analytics to analyze and estimate exposures, loss trends, and other risks associated with our ILS businesses. The usefulness of our models depends on the extent to which our actual experience is consistent with assumptions we use in our models and ultimate model outputs, which may from time-to-time contain inaccuracies. See also, "We may experience losses or disruptions from catastrophes and certain other, significant infrequent loss events."

Competition in the insurance markets could reduce profits from our insurance operations. Insurance markets are highly competitive. We compete on an international and regional basis with major U.S., Bermuda, U.K., and other international insurers and with underwriting syndicates, some of which have greater financial, marketing, and management resources than we do, have greater access to "big data," and may be able to offer a wider range of, or more sophisticated, commercial and personal lines products. Recent industry consolidation, including business combinations among insurance and other financial services companies, has resulted in larger competitors with even greater financial resources. In addition, capital market participants have created alternative products that are intended to compete with insurance products. Similar to other industries, the insurance industry is undergoing rapid and significant technological and other changes. There is increasing focus by traditional insurance industry participants, technology companies, insurtech start-up companies, and others on using technology and innovation, including artificial intelligence, to simplify and improve the customer experience, increase efficiencies, redesign products, alter business models, and effect other potentially disruptive changes in the insurance industry. If we do not anticipate, keep pace with, and adapt to technological and other changes impacting the insurance industry, it will harm our ability to compete, decrease the value of our products to customers, and materially and adversely affect our business. For example, competitors that deploy artificial intelligence and advanced analytics at scale, or that have access to data sets we cannot use for legal or practical reasons, may achieve superior underwriting, claims, and expense outcomes. Furthermore, innovation, technological change and changing customer preferences in the markets in which we operate also pose other risks to our businesses. For example, they could result in increasing our service, administrative, policy acquisition. or general expenses as we seek to distinguish our products and services from those of our competitors or otherwise keep up with such innovation and changes. Increased competition could result in fewer submissions, lower premium rates, and less favorable policy terms and conditions, which could reduce our underwriting profits, or within our fronting operations, our operating profits, and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. The historical cyclicality in the property and casualty insurance industry could have a material adverse effect on our ability to improve or maintain underwriting profits or to grow or maintain premium volume. The insurance markets have historically been cyclical, characterized by extended periods of intense price competition due to excessive underwriting capacity, and alternative sources of capital, as well as periods when shortages of capacity permitted more favorable rate levels. Among our competitive strengths have been our specialty product focus and our niche market strategy. These strengths also make us vulnerable in periods of intense competition to actions by other insurance companies who seek to write additional premiums without appropriate regard for underwriting profitability. At times, it could be very difficult for us to grow or maintain premium volume levels without sacrificing underwriting profits. If we are not successful in maintaining rates or achieving rate increases, it may be difficult for us to improve or maintain underwriting profits or to grow or maintain premium volume levels. We depend on a few brokers for a large portion of our premiums and the loss of business provided by any one of them could have a material adverse effect on us. We market our insurance products worldwide through brokers. For the year ended December 31, 2025, our top five independent brokers represented 37% of the gross premiums written by our underwriting operations. Loss of all or a substantial portion of the business provided by one or more of these brokers could have a material adverse effect on our business.