Rates

Marsh: Cyber continues to lead global insurance price increases

Cyber has continued to lead insurance price rises with increases of 96 percent in the US and 73 percent in the UK during the third quarter, according to Marsh’s latest Global Insurance Market Index.

Glaser: Near-term inflection to soft market unlikely with Q3 rate increases stable at 15%

The Marsh Global Insurance Market Index was stable in the third quarter with average price increases of 15 percent year on year, although financial and professional lines pricing was up 32 percent driven by a near doubling in cyber rates.

Travelers’ Schnitzer: Pricing “will continue to be strong” despite Q3 deceleration

Shares in Travelers have risen following the firm’s Q3 earnings beat, with management commenting that business insurance pricing will remain strong despite some tapering during the quarter while $255mn of potential recovery remains on its property aggregate catastrophe XoL treaty for the fourth quarter.

Hannover Re’s Pickel: Flat 1.1 renewals in Germany “completely off the table”

German property treaty portfolios are not expected to renew with less than double-digit increases at 1 January, with cedants hit by losses from the Bernd flooding told to expect rate rises of over 20 percent, Hannover Re’s Michael Pickel has said.

Munich Re’s Höpke: inflation and Euro cat losses to fuel “prolonged” hardening

Munich Re expects “prolonged” reinsurance market hardening with major losses and inflation set to push rates higher at the January 2022 renewals, particularly for loss-hit European contracts.

E+S Rück expects “markedly” higher pricing at 1.1 following 2021 losses

Hannover Re’s German subsidiary E+S Rück has said it anticipates higher prices at renewal following this summer’s flood losses, adding that the event will likely prompt many insurers to expand their reinsurance coverage.

Letter from The Broadmoor: business (almost) as usual

There is no doubt that the P&C insurance industry rapidly adapted to the challenges of operating through Covid-19, with a swift and largely successful transition to remote working that could reshape working practices as the pandemic finally recedes.

Berenberg: Cyber dislocation points to multi-year rate increases

Cyber is emerging as a “truly unique” class of business where long-established players such as Beazley and Munich Re have a head start in capitalising on a prolonged, multi-year period of market hardening where demand outstrips supply, according to Berenberg.

MarketScout: US commercial rate increases pick back up in Q3

MarketScout’s composite rate for commercial insurance pricing was up 6.8 percent in the third quarter compared to up 5.9 percent in the second quarter of 2021.

Marsh: Every UK cyber renewal likely to see premium increase in Q3

Cyber insurance pricing is continuing to “sharply increase” with the latest Marsh UK cyber report revealing that 98 percent of clients that bought cover through the London market saw a rise in pricing in Q2.

Auto losses spike as frequency and severity jump post pandemic amid car shortage

Auto insurers are facing soaring losses as driving returns to pre-pandemic levels with claims frequency and severity on the rise while costs to repair or replace vehicles have also spiked amid a shortage of parts and new and used cars, with consumers set to face increased pricing unless these trends reverse.

Miller: Marine hull now “a hard market” after repeated rate rises

European cat in focus as reinsurers expected to push for meaningful 1.1 increases

Escalating insured losses of €10bn+ from the European floods will meaningfully impact some reinsurers and retro writers and drive 1 January cat renewal discussions on the continent as underwriters push hard for higher rates and buyers argue that moderation is warranted due to historically low loss ratios.

Casualty reinsurance rate momentum “needs to continue”

AXIS Re’s Allison Janisch answers our questions on trends in the global casualty market.

WTW Clips: US commercial price increases decelerated in Q2 to just over 6%

US commercial insurance prices grew by just over 6 percent in the second quarter of 2021, down from just below 8 percent in Q1, according to Willis Towers Watson in its new Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey, confirming the trend of decelerating pricing.

Hannover Re says rate increases “unavoidable” at 1.1

Hannover Re has said it anticipates continued reinsurance price increases and improvements in market conditions during 2022 renewals.

Swiss Re’s Ojeisekhoba: secondary peril losses to fuel rate rises in 2022

Reinsurance renewal rates will need to increase further in 2022 to offset the rising cost of losses from secondary perils, according to Swiss Re’s reinsurance CEO Moses Ojeisekhoba.

Casualty QS heads to another inflection point as underlying momentum wanes

Reinsurers are again beginning to question the sustainability of casualty and professional liability quota share ceding commissions that are largely back in the 30 percent or more range amid the steady drip feed of data points indicating a deceleration of underlying rate increases.

CEOs bullish on US commercial insurance rates despite Q2 moderation

Reinsurers will be closely monitoring underlying insurance rate trends as the key 1 January renewal date nears. For US commercial pricing, deceleration has become a common phrase to describe the current environment.

Strong first-half results may prove to be a false dawn for reinsurers

Expectations were high for the reinsurance renewal periods in 2021 and while the best of those expectations has not been met, the story has generally been positive. But risks remain from the global pandemic and from natural catastrophe events.