Most Renewal Costs for D&O, Property and General Liability Down from Comparable Quarter; Workers’ Comp Renewals Flat or Cheaper As Soft Market Begins to Take Hold
NEW YORK, July 15, 2004 – In the continuing march toward a soft market, most commercial insurance buyers renewed their policies at the same or lower premiums last quarter, according to a survey of corporate risk managers. Data from the survey shows that premiums declined by 18 percent on average and as high as 52 percent for up to half of the Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability, Property and General Liability policies renewed in the second quarter.
The market conditions were released today in the quarterly results of the RIMS Benchmark SurveyTM, an industry survey. The second quarter renewal information was summarized by Advisen Ltd. for the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
The survey results indicate that price declines outpaced price gains in every major category except Workers’ Compensation. More than 61 percent of D&O Liability insurance renewals were either less expensive (16 percent lower on average) or flat compared to last year. More than 65 percent of renewals of domestic property insurance were priced lower (18 percent less on average) or flat. Fifty percent of all Workers’ Compensation renewals were priced higher (14 percent on average) and 43 percent were priced lower (an average of 13 percent), with the remaining renewals coming in at the same level.
“Clearly, when 100 risk managers go into the market and 50 come back with a significantly better priced deal than the one they had last year, that means we are starting to experience a turn in the market from the past several years of large price increases ,” said Daniel H. Kugler, RIMS Vice President, Membership. “The continued decline in D&O prices affirms that even the highest flier in the past few years is now coming back to earth. We anticipate that the market will continue to soften at least through the end of the year.”
Though the momentum towards a soft market continues to build, underwriters still achieved rate increases on a significant number of renewals. Average premium prices for the quarter across the entire market declined only slightly or remained flat, creating a potentially false impression that the overall market was stagnating. Average D&O premium prices, which had experienced the most dramatic growth in the heart of the recent hard market, were essentially flat in the quarter. Property and General Liability posted rate decreases, with Property (-1%) down for the third consecutive quarter, and General Liability (-2%) in the negative column the second quarter in a row. Workers’ Compensation insurance was the only major line included in the survey that recorded a discernible increase on average, coming in at one percent higher. Both D&O insurance and Workers’ Compensation had both been experiencing significant double-digit increases as recently as last fall, but both have seen precipitous drop-offs in the rate of increase in the last few quarter
“The bottom has not fallen out of the market, but this is a deliberate march to a soft market,” said David Bradford, editor-in-chief at Advisen. “The mood at the carriers is more down than the average price numbers might suggest, but when you figure out that underwriters are losing decisively in half of all negotiations, then you begin to understand the real sense of the market.”
Advisen, a provider of specialized information, analytic and benchmarking tools for commercial insurance professionals, analyzes the survey results continuously, offering a dynamic and virtually real-time window into the current purchase patterns of commercial insurance buyers. The results represent data compiled from over 1100 organizations to date.
About The Benchmark Survey
Participants who contribute insurance schedule data to the survey can utilize “Chart-Your-Program” software to create charts and schedules of insurance programs and interactively compare their data with prior years’ survey data. Additionally, participants can use interactive benchmarking tools to compare costs and programs against continuously updated marketplace data. The online version of the RIMS Benchmarking Service is now available for subscription purchase.
The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the practice of risk management, a professional discipline that protects physical, financial and human resources. Founded in 1950, RIMS represents nearly 4,000 industrial, service, nonprofit, charitable, and governmental entities. The Society serves 8,000 risk management professionals around the world.
Advisen Ltd. offers strategic information services to the global commercial insurance industry, combining comprehensive market data with proprietary analytic and benchmark modeling software. Advisen serves the world’s leading insurance companies, brokers and risk managers by providing a systematic perspective on writing, marketing and purchasing lines of commercial insurance.
