Corinne Jones, seen below, is executive vice president of Operations at AMWINS Access Redondo Beach, Calif. She says:

First and foremost, the marketplace remains highly competitive. There continues to be price softening on average, but we are seeing isolated hardening in certain segments where there is dislocation. We're beginning to see modest rate increases (in the 5%-10% range) depending on line, loss history and account size. Overall, it is clear that the declines have stopped, but the supply of capital still outweighs demand.

The issue of information management and the rising cost of investing in the right kind of technology remain key challenges, particularly for smaller firms. In the wholesale market, the various opportunities that we have — the new types of risk that come up and that we find ways to write — bring additional challenges, because of the constant investment required to identify those risks, manage that information and put new products out there.