Posted by Philip Dearn on May 16, 2012 | 
Insurance buying for healthcare providers in the U.K. generally remains a stable environment as a result of abundant capacity and an extended soft market.
There are signs, however, that carriers writing property, casualty, and medical professional liability are becoming increasingly aware of the need to write business profitably. This mirrors market conditions in the U.S. While capacity is plentiful, there will be competition. However, insurers are starting to show signs of becoming more aggressive when pricing risks with poor claims frequency.
Demonstrating a proactive approach to loss control is becoming increasingly important when negotiating rates with carriers.
There are a number of underlying factors that are affecting the U.K. healthcare sector. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report into private hospital operators issued its provisional findings in December 2011 and is high on the agenda in the board rooms of private hospital groups.
Read the full report here.
Posted by Jeffrey Carey and Charles Teter on May 11, 2012 |
The preliminary 2011 surety industry results once again shattered many of the “crystal ball” predictions, as significant surety losses failed to materialize. On the surface, the recent meetings between Lockton’s National Surety Team and top industry executives left the Lockton team with a case of déjà vu.
Excellent financial results paired with predictions for a monsoon of losses on the horizon was a familiar theme. While one could overlook the predictions because of continued positive financial results and reviewing historical information will bring new points of concern to the surface.
Overall, industry results were fabulous: $5,139,092,292 in written premiums, $671,681,201 in direct losses, and a 13 percent direct loss ratio in 2011. Several sureties generated record profits, capacity has never been more abundant, and sureties are hungry to write well-qualified credit / contractors.
Continue reading here.
Posted by Bobby Bierley, Jr. and John Rathmell on May 4, 2012 |
2012 MARINE AND ENERGY MARKET UPDATE (Q1)
The energy and marine insurance market can be summed up as relatively “FLAT” but with pressure from recent risk losses plus significant natural catastrophe losses in 2011 (the exception being energy casualty – especially offshore – which has hardened). Not bad, considering 2011 could turn out to be the worst natural catastrophe year on record.
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2011—A Year of Natural Catastrophe Losses
Worldwide, 2011 was the second-costliest year for insured losses on record (only eclipsed by 2005 at $123 billion). The 2011 natural catastrophe losses alone have exceeded $100 billion. Specifically, we have had:
- Thailand floods ($13 billion)
- New Zealand earthquake ($13 billion)
- U.S. tornadoes / storms ($21 billion)
- Japan earthquake / tsunami ($35 to $40 billion)
Continue reading here.
Posted by Benjamin Carroll and Pete Romano on |
Property Market Conditions
The property insurance marketplace experienced the second-worst loss year on record in 2011, including the worst Q1 and Q2 ever. A multitude of major loss events—both at home and abroad—have affected pricing and capacity on a global level.
On a worldwide basis, the last 18 months has seen serious earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand; flooding in Thailand, Australia, and Brazil; and an Australian cyclone and resulting flooding. Here in the States, we have endured major flooding along the Mississippi River, Hurricane Irene making landfall in the Northeast, devastating tornadoes in Joplin and the Southeast last spring, and even more tornadoes in the Ohio Valley, Alabama, and Texas this spring.
Putting aside these major domestic and international catastrophe events, a rash of hailstorms has plagued the Midwest and Western states (especially Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado), while fire losses have been on the rise. Add on the full-fledged rollout of RMS version 11, which is drastically increasing probable maximum loss (PML) and average annual loss (AAL), and the current adverse market conditions are either “hardening” or “hard,” depending on whom you ask. All of these factors, plus higher carrier combined ratios and lackluster investment income, have led most insurance companies to significantly change their appetite and behavior with respect to real estate risks generally, and multifamily accounts specifically.
Read the full report here.
Posted by Chris Sullivan on |
For the first time in a very long time, we have reached what I will call “aviation insurance duality” (AID). The term “duality” in this context means “a situation that has two states or parts that are opposed to each other.”1 So what is the duality we are discussing today? Answer: the disparity between aviation risk and aviation insurance rates.
IATA (Air Transport Association) reported on March 12, 2012, that the global accident rate reached a new low. This is not just a “new low”; it is the lowest global annual accident rate on record. The AIN Air Transport Perspective stated “Statistics published last week by the International Air Transport Association show that western jets registered their lowest accident rates in history in 2011, besting their previous record set just one year earlier. The 2011 global accident rate (measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jets) finished at 0.37, the equivalent of one accident every 2.7 million flights, amounting to a 39 percent improvement over 2010, when the accident rate of 0.61 resulted from one accident for every 1.6 million flights.
Read the full report here.
Insurance buying for healthcare providers in the U.K. generally remains a stable environment as a result of abundant capacity and an extended soft market.
