E&S/Specialty

Joseph Peloso, a veteran of the program business segment, remembers a time when unsolicited program proposals flooded the desks of property and casualty underwriters, offering more business than they could possibly handle.

A soft market hasn't stopped excess and surplus lines industry veterans from building and launching businesses--and wholesale brokerages have been as active as carriers in the early part of 2010.

Signs of life may be returning to the residential construction industry, but the recession has left banks and developers suffering an unpleasant hangover.

Non-U.S. organizations vaulted up a premium ranking of writers of excess and surplus lines insurance in the United States in 2009, although industrywide U.S. E&S premiums shrank for the third straight year.

With Richmond, Va., continually growing as an excess and surplus lines insurance hub, the newest E&S carrier to set up shop there will distinguish itself with a "contrarian underwriting strategy," the company's chief executive says.

With an eye toward servicing $1,500 surplus lines accounts rather than $200,000 accounts, the newest managing general agency in Connecticut aims to grow by capturing the small, hard-to-place business of each retail agent customer.

After seeing damages awarded against it in one lawsuit, a Chinese drywall maker announced last week that it settled a case brought against it by U.S. homebuilder Beazer Homes for an undisclosed dollar amount.

Businesses often overlook the need to buy extra or excess liability insurance limits, but these prudent coverage purchases are an essential safeguard, protecting against asset depletion from unforeseen risks.