Veteran surplus lines insurance industry executives say they'll know a market turn when they see one, but so far, all the barometers they check to predict the proximity of a turn are stuck in soft market territory.

Two Bermuda-based companies, Max Capital Group and Harbor Point Limited, announced that they agreed to merge last night, creating a global insurance and reinsurance enterprise with total capital of $3 billion.

If you're the kind of leader that reacts immediately to put out the fire of every crisis, then you may not be doing your company any favors, according to the consultant who is moderating tomorrow's panel discussion.

One of tomorrow's featured speakers at the NAPSLO Mid-Year Leadership Forum will be familiar to many members attending the 8:45 a.m. session, but according to Tony Markel, the company he led for decades looks entirely different in 2010.

Surplus lines brokers know that a fourth year of flat or declining revenues lies before them--unless the market hardens, the economy recovers, or they change their operations in ways that let them capture business despite external trends.

The latest publicly available statistics for the excess and surplus lines industry indicate that overall E&S premiums probably fell for the third straight year in 2009--and few experts see much change for 2010.

Carriers and brokers selling Side-A D&O liability insurance coverage by delivering warnings about the increasing severity of shareholder derivative lawsuits may be overstating the trend, according to one attorney involved in a major case.

Although making acquisitions is a prudent strategy for forward-thinking surplus lines insurance executives seeking to build their organizations, potential sellers are unlikely to agree to lower the deal prices offered, experts recently warned.