California surplus lines insurers wrote $6.03 billion in premium in 2006, exceeding predictions and reversing a downward trend for previous years, an industry trade group said.

The Surplus Line Association of California (SLA) said its analysis of premium placed in the state last year found 509,302 insurance policies written for California insurance consumers.

"These figures are higher than predicted for the surplus line market and reverse the trend from the previous year," said Ted Pierce, executive director of SLA, adding that in 2005 the SLA experienced a 1 percent decrease in premium volume compared to 2004.

The organization said the state's top five surplus line brokers in 2006 in terms of premium volume were:

o Western Risk Specialists

o Swett & Crawford

o Marsh USA

o AmWINS Insurance Brokers

o AON Risk Services

The top five lines of coverage written were:

o General Liability

o Errors & Omissions

o Commercial DIC/Stand Alone Earthquake

o Commercial Property

o Excess Liability

The top five surplus line insurers were:

o Lexington Insurance Company

o American International Specialty Lines

Insurance Company

o Scottsdale Insurance Company

o Landmark American Insurance

Company

o Arch Specialty Insurance Company

The combined Lloyd's syndicates wrote 14 percent of California premiums.

The San Francisco-based association also said it elected Ceil Norton as its chair. She is the Branch Manager for Burns & Wilcox Insurance in Fresno, Calif.

John Edack of Arch Specialty Insurance Agency Inc. in San Francisco was elected vice chairman.

The SLA is an organization of 1,400 surplus line brokers. It serves as the official surplus line advisory organization to the California Department of Insurance.

Special Reports /

Calif. Surplus Line Insurers Wrote $6B In '06

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