Although inland marine doesn't lend itself to formulaic underwriting, newcomers see the line's traditionally low 87 combined loss ratio—and want in on the action, says Kevin O'Brien, president of the Inland Marine Underwriters Association (IMUA).
Established inland-marine providers are finding that the newer players are often willing to give ground in rate discussions. "They don't have the reputation to get market position, so they use price to land business," says Pat Stoik, vice president and global inland-marine manager at Chubb & Son.
"But this is a fairly specialized field. No two risks are identical, and there are 40 different classes of business," Stoik adds. "The new guys forget that if you don't have the expertise, you run the risk of eroding that historical profit."
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