William R. Berkley says reserve deficiencies are driving the need for the marketplace to increase rates, and the abilities of some companies to take corrective actions will lessen.

Prior-year reserve deficits, especially among W.R. Berkley Corp.’s small- and mid-size competitors are a “snowball going downhill,” says the chairman and chief executive officer during a third-quarter earnings conference call.

He adds, “The abilities [of these companies] to continue on the run will diminish.” Berkley predicts solvency issues for some smaller companies.

“They think they’ve fixed the problem, then the deficiency comes up again,” he says of some competitors.

Berkley’s conservative approach to pricing and setting reserves will allow Berkley to “grow while others are trying to hold their own,” says the chief executive. Berkley has recorded 23 straight quarters of positive reserve development.

W.R. Berkley Corp. says its 2012 third-quarter net income increased 32 percent to $101 million compared to the same period a year ago thanks to rate increases and positive trends in most lines of business.

Berkley says his company anticipates rate increases into next year. W.R. Berkley achieved an average 7 percent increase on renewed policies in the third quarter—the group’s seventh straight quarter of getting rate increases.

W. Robert Berkley, the company’s president and chief operating officer, says efforts by companies to achieve rate adequacy following a prolonged soft market are more widespread—with an “increasing sensitivity to prior years.”

Loss trends and past aggressive pricing are catching up on the marketplace after years when underwriting discipline eroded, he adds.

Another threat to rate sufficiency looms: the low interest rate environment affecting investment income. While the subject has been addressed by analysts and insurance executives, Robert Berkley says, “few [companies] have begun to appropriately factor this into pricing.”

Anecdotally, it seems more insurers are concerned with right-sizing underwriting margins than with low interest rates.

“No one talks investment income,” the elder Berkley says.

Special Reports /

W.R. Berkley Q3 Profit Up 32%; Reserve Shortages Driving Market Rate Hikes

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