Advisen ADVx: A look at premiums at renewal

According to the Advisen ADVx index, premiums at renewal for Employment Practices Liability insurance are on the rise, but this line as well as several other lines of professional liability insurance outpace the middle-market composite.

EPLI premiums (blue line, below) at renewal in May, the latest month available in ADVx, are up 4.3 percent from May 2014. Compare this to the middle-market composite, which is down 2.7 percent in May.

ADVx insurance premium index tracks changes in program premiums paid at renewal by commercial lines insurance buyers. The ADVx middle-market indices are the composite of the individual lines of business weighted by their relative premium volume as reported in Best’s Aggregates and Averages. The middle market is defined as businesses with annual revenues of less than $250 million.

Nineteen lines of business are within the middle-market indices, including: auto liability, general liability, environmental, product liability, D&O, employment practices, fiduciary, commercial multiperil, property, workers compensation, A&E and cyber.

Premium at renewal for Directors & Officers insurance is up 2.7 percent in May 2015 over May 2014.

MarketScout’s Market Barometer shows most P&C rates in the “doldrums.” Admittedly rates are different than premiums, but in June P&C rates remained relatively unchanged, with D&O and EPLI up 1 percent. Fiduciary was flat.

The Advisen ADVx index shows premium renewal for fiduciary (above) is up about 1.9 percent. But since early 2012, premiums at renewal for this line is generally trending up.

Difference-in-Conditions insurance is the only line of business in the graph to show premium renewals trending down, about 5.9 percent in May from May 2014.  Still, DIC premiums at renewal remain higher than the middle-market composite.