Here we are in November, and it looks as if the insurance industry is going to experience a 2006 hurricane season that is as mild as the 2005 season was wild. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that agents in Southeast coastal areas will find much improvement, if any, in the windstorm market next year. Same goes for California agents struggling to place earthquake coverage.

Just why these markets will continue to be in a bind was spelled out at last month's annual meeting of the Target Markets Program Administrators Association, which was held in Tempe, Ariz. Some 500 people were on hand for the meeting, which has attracted a steadily increasing number of attendees since it first was held a month after 9/11. Greg Thompson, president of Thomco, took over as the association's president.

Among the speakers at the meeting was Andrew Colannino, vice president of the property-casualty ratings division of A.M. Best Co. Thanks to sub-100 combined ratios and reasonable pricing discipline so far, the industry overall should turn in strong operating results in 2006 and 2007, Colannino said. The outlook for 2008 through 2010 is not as sanguine, however, particularly for commercial lines. “We think that the pricing is going to continue to deteriorate,” he said, “and that terms and conditions might give way a bit.”