For example, he said during a panel discussion here at the World Insurance Forum, while property insurance premiums are in a relatively steep decline for most buyers, "there are harder sectors, such as those facing quake or flood exposures in key areas."

Mr. Vitale also noted that environmental, fiduciary and product liability premiums are, for the most part, "still firm," while in the directors and officers liability market, rates are more likely to decline in the excess layers, rather than for primary coverage.

Peter Garvey, president and CEO of North American operations for New York-based Marsh Inc., agreed there are "micro-classes of risk for which underwriter selectivity remains demanding."

Lance Ewing, vice president of risk management at Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas, who moderated the panel discussion, said he did not feel very confident about premiums continuing their decline should a major loss occur?particularly in the property market.

"One severe hurricane or earthquake could shift this market in a hurry," cautioned the immediate past president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society. "This is still a very fragile market."

However, Mr. Vitale said he thinks that at this point, it "would take more than one simple catastrophe to dramatically turn the market hard again."

John Matthews, corporate director of risk management at Harrah's Entertainment in Las Vegas, said that while in general he is seeing "a lot of softening in terms of reduced rates and increasing capacity," if a buyer has a poor claims history or recently suffered a severe event, "you will still be hard put to get a cheaper price" for coverage.

Ellen Vinck, vice president of risk management at United States Marine Repair, a ship-maintenance firm based in Norfolk, Va., said that establishing long-term relationships with her broker and underwriters, combined with her company's commitment to sound loss control, made a big difference in keeping premium increases under control. Even during the worst of the hard market over the past two years, she noted, her rate hikes did not exceed a modest 6 percent.