Property-casualty insurance rates continue to fall across all lines of business, according to a survey released by the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.
The Washington, D.C.-based CIAB said brokers are finding that insurers are "aggressively competing for new business and fighting hard to keep their renewals."
Rates declined an average of 9.7 percent across all size accounts, according to the respondents. Large accounts (defined as business of more than $100,000 in commission and fees) saw the steepest decline of 12 percent. Midsize accounts (commissions and fees between $25,000 and $100,000) declined 11.4 percent, and small accounts (less than $25,000 in commissions and fees) experienced the slightest decline at less than 6 percent.
The overall declines closely followed last quarter's figures, with an overall average decline of 9.4 percent.
The survey received 131 responses from the CIAB member brokers who write 80 percent of the p-c premiums in the U.S., the association said.
The association said it's members reported in the survey that while rates are generally decreasing, they are still experiencing some difficulty with surety bonds, director's and officer's insurance, medical malpractice coverage, and habitation risks such as residential construction.
Among some of the lines highlighted by CIAB, commercial auto declined an average of 6 percent in the quarter; workers' compensation was down 7.3 percent; commercial property dropped 13.3 percent; general liability was down 9.1 percent; and umbrella declined 6.6 percent.
CIAB said the survey's respondents indicated there was a slight increase in purchases of terrorism insurance in the second quarter for medium and large accounts, but the total number buying the insurance remains small.
The association said customers not buying the insurance cited the belief that they did not feel they were targets of terrorism, and cost of the coverage, as reasons for not purchasing the insurance.
Details of the survey's results are available at www.ciab.com.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
