NU Online News Service, Nov. 7, 11:33 a.m. EDT

Further evidence of the soft market making a turnaround was furnished Friday with the release of the MarketScout's October barometer that indicates average rate increases/decreases were flat for the month.

“October results affirm the soft market is drawing to a close,” says Richard Kerr, chief executive officer of MarketScout, the Dallas-based electronic insurance exchange. “With two consecutive months of a flat market, we are on the cusp of a composite rate increase.”

Kerr notes that according to October's MarketScout figures, only umbrella liability and public entities recorded rate decreases, of 1 percent.

Business interruption, inland marine, general liability, commercial auto, professional liability, fiduciary and crime were flat.

Businessowners policy, directors and officers liability, employers professional liability insurance and surety were all up 1 percent, while workers' compensation was up 2 percent.

By account size, small accounts were up 2 percent and medium accounts ($25,011 – $250,000 in premium) were up 1 percent. Large accounts and jumbo accounts (over $1 million in premium) were both flat.

Reviewing the seven industry classes listed in the survey, transportation was up the most at 3 percent, followed by energy at 2 percent, and habitational and contracting at 1 percent. Manufacturing and service were both flat, while public entity was down 1 percent.

The report follows the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers quarterly market survey of insurance brokers, which says average rate increases during the third quarter were just shy of one percent or just about flat.

Meyer Shields, a financial analyst for Stifel Nicolaus, says insurers' deteriorating calendar-year results are the primary catalyst for the pricing change, and he adds that the current trend should accelerate as favorable reserve development tailwinds subside.

He gives high marks to personal-lines insurers who are keeping rates at or above “loss cost inflation rates,” supporting “steady or improving underwriting profits (dependent on the weather).”

Shields also gives insurance brokers a vote of confidence, saying that the headwinds toward organic growth, recessionary pressures and soft market declines are diminishing, which should lead to improvements in their bottom lines.

The MarketScout survey is done in conjunction with the National Alliance for Insurance Education and research that conducts pricing surveys.

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