The P&C commercial market has officially achieved hard-market status, according to the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers (CIAB)—although some executives at major carriers remain skeptical.

“We've been cautious up to now about declaring a market turn, but it's reasonable to say that the market has made a hard turn after two quarters of price increases and tighter underwriting,” Ken A. Crerar, CIAB's president and CEO, says in a statement accompanying the results of the association's latest quarterly market survey.

“It's difficult to predict length and severity, but the market has turned,” he adds.

According to the survey, pricing for small, medium and large commercial accounts was up an average of 4.4 percent during the first quarter.

The increase continues a trend. Pricing was up an average of 2.7 percent on all accounts during 2011's fourth quarter after starting to edge up nearly 1 percent in Q3 2011, according to CIAB.

Going back a year, pricing was down 2.9 percent on small, medium and large accounts during the first quarter of 2011.

Brokers who responded to CIAB's survey say losses from catastrophes have driven rate increases. Hard-to-find coverages such as earthquake and flood increased 25 percent, says one broker. RMS Version 11 also has elevated rates, especially in coastal areas.

The greatest increase from the fourth quarter of last year to Q1 2012 was seen in large accounts. Rates were up an average of 4.1 percent in Q1 compared to an increase of 1.6 percent during 2011's fourth quarter.

By line, Workers' Compensation and Commercial Property appear to be leading the rate-hardening charge. Workers' Comp prices were up 7.4 percent in 2012's first quarter after rising 7.5 percent during Q4 2011.

Commercial Property was up 6.5 percent for the first quarter of 2012. Pricing in the line was up 5.7 percent in 2011's final quarter.

Dallas-based MarketScout's latest Market Barometer for April supports CIAB's survey results regarding the direction of pricing. According to MarketScout, commercial P&C rates were up 3 percent in April compared to a year ago.

The previous Market Barometers for January, February and March showed rate increases of 1 percent, 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively, compared to the same months in 2011.

Broken down by insurance line, MarketScout says Workers' Comp and Commercial Property rates both rose 4 percent in April—the highest increases for the month. No lines showed rate decreases, and Fiduciary was the only line that came in flat. Three lines—Business Interruption, Crime and Surety—showed 1 percent increases, while all other lines increased by either 2 percent or 3 percent.

By account size, small, medium and large accounts all increased by 3 percent, while jumbo accounts were up 2 percent.

Aside from rising rates, MarketScout notes that standard carriers appear to be less inclined to write risks typically insured by non-admitted carriers—a sign E&S executives look for to determine whether the market is truly turning.

“Recently, we have noticed admitted and non-admitted insurers are pricing similarly,” MarketScout CEO Richard Kerr says in a statement. “Historically, there has been a considerable difference in the underwriting approaches among the various types of insurers. The recent similar pricing strategies could ultimately lead to more business for the non-admitted insurers as admitted insurers begin to restrict their risk appetite and simply decline to write tougher accounts.”

Despite these recent rate increases, some carrier executives say pricing is still a long way from where it needs to be for insurers.

In a keynote address at the recent Advisen Casualty Insights Conference in New York, Mark Lyons, CEO of Arch World Wide Insurance Group, said overcapitalization is hiding losses on business. “We have had $12 billion in reserves releases in the 2011 calendar year alone…It has been three loss-ratio points of reserve releases over the past 3-4 years on average… [This is] sheltering losses on current-year business and masking how unprofitable current business is because of releases in this year from accidents which occurred prior.”

While Lyons believes there is room for measured optimism, he said there has not been enough market pain to cause universal agreement on the need for even more significant rate increases than those seen of late.

Lou Iglesias, president of P&C at Allied World, is also unconvinced the industry has entered a hard market. He points to two factors: that industry surplus hit a record of $565 billion in March 2011 and dropped by just 1.6 percent by the end of the year; and that there is lower demand for insurance products, as demand levels are determined by the overall strength of the economy, which is predicted to grow by a sluggish 3 percent through 2012.

Special Reports /

Commercial Rates Up Again; Hard Market Here, CIAB Declares

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