Commercial-lines rates were up 3% in March, a slight increasefrom the 2% increase in February, as insurers made adjustments tomeet profit targets, according to MarketScout.
|The 3% figure matches the increase seen in January.
|Richard Kerr, MarketScout CEO, says in a statement, “Insurerstarget a specific return-on-equity. Despite improving margins,insurers are still not meeting their profit targets, thus thecontinued marginal increases.”
|Commercial auto, workers' comp and BOP led the way with 4%increases in March. Both commercial auto and BOP were flat comparedto the increases in February, while workers' comp was up from a 3%increase in the prior month.
|Inland marine, fiduciary, crime and surety rates increased theleast at 1%. No line showed decrease for the month.
|Small, medium and large accounts were all up by 3% in March,while jumbo accounts increased by 1%.
|By industry class, contracting led the way for increases at +4%in March. Manufacturing, service and habitational were all up by3%, while public entity was up by 2%.
|Personal lines
|Personal-lines rates were up by 3% in March as well, up from 2%in February. Kerr says, “When measuring premiums from March 2012 toMarch 2014, rates were up 9% in the aggregate. So, a homeownerpaying $10,000 before renewing in March 2012 would be paying$10,926 after renewing their policy in March 2014.”
|He notes that increases are moderating, and that he expects thattrend to continue “unless insurers are hit with large catastrophicweather events later in the year.”
|Homeowners rates—for homes valued both over and under $1million—and auto rates were up by 3% while personal articles rateswere up by 2%.
|Want to continue reading?
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