RPS’s Stein: E&S space has been “predictably unpredictable” in 2024

E&S accounts have delivered mixed returns so far in 2024 amid a continued flow of business from admitted markets, according to Risk Placement Services (RPS) executive vice president Russ Stein.

Speaking to The Insurer TV during this year’s WSIA Annual Marketplace in San Diego, Stein said: “What we're seeing a lot of is just continued flow into the E&S space. A lot of accounts that historically have been in the standard line space for a very long time are starting to move into E&S.”

Stein said he expected this momentum to continue.

He described returns in the E&S market as “predictably unpredictable” so far this year.

“There are certain accounts that you get results on and everybody's thrilled,” Stein said. “And then there's a lot of accounts that are a little contentious, and everybody walks away like nobody really knows what happened.”

Notably, he said the casualty E&S market was continuing to grow, amid uncertainty as to whether pricing adjustments of recent years will prove sufficient to address the social inflation and nuclear verdicts which he believes will “continue to plague the market”.

Stein had previously flagged the shift of casualty business into E&S markets in an interview with E&S Insurer in August.

A report issued last month by Fitch said E&S direct written premiums grew by 15 percent in 2023 to nearly $106bn, the sector’s 13th consecutive year of premium growth and sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth.