Insurance Market Showing More Stability

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, April 20, 9:52 a.m. EDT?An insurance brokers group said its members report their clients are seeing less price increases as the industry's levels appear to be stabilizing.[@@]

In its quarterly insurance market report the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers said, after a couple of years of significant increases among customers, its latest survey of 113 brokers showed significantly less upward pressures on premium rates, dropping to levels that they were at the end of 1999.

According to the survey released yesterday, across all size accounts, double-digit increases were becoming rare. Where close to 20 percent of accounts in three commission category sizes saw premium increases of 10 percent or more in the last quarter of 2003, the first quarter of 2004 saw a very different picture.

Brokers said that for five percent of small accounts, with commissions and fees of less than $25,000, premiums rose between 10 and 20 percent. This compared to 13 percent in the last quarter of 2003. Four percent of these clients saw increases of between 20 and 50 percent, while none went higher than 20 percent in 2004. Forty-one percent of the clients saw rates rise between 1 and 10 percent, compared to 43 percent in 2003. Those seeing no change rose to 34 percent in the report, compared to only 25 percent in 2003.

The same trend followed medium-size accounts (fees and commission between $25,000 and $100,000) and large accounts (fees and commission above $100,000).

Large accounts saw the most dramatic change, with 27 percent of accounts seeing increases of between 1 and 10 percent, compared to 45 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003. Only 4 percent saw increases that ranged from 10 to 30 percent, compared to 9 percent in 2003. In 2003, three percent of accounts saw increases of 30 and 100 percent, while the 2004 survey showed no accounts seeing similar increases, which was true also for the other two account sizes.

There was some indication of downward pressures, as 41 percent of large accounts, for example, saw decreases ranging from 1 to 30 percent. This compared to only 23 percent in 2003.

"The survey still shows some trouble spots in the commercial market, where commercial coverage is hard to find and expensive when you can find it," said Ken A. Crerar, president of the CIAB. "The biggest trouble areas remain residential construction risks, umbrella coverage, workers' compensation and medical malpractice."

Additional information is available at www.ciab.com.

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Insurance Market Showing More Stability

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