Is The Hard Market Over Once & For All?

Flag: NU Survey Results: May 24

Is The Hard Market Over Once & For All?

Is the hard market really dead? How far have average premium rate hikes dropped since last fall? Are higher limits and broader coverage cheaper to purchase? How satisfied are corporate insurance buyers with the services provided by their brokers and insurers? Are brokers and buyers on the same page when it comes to their views of the market?

These are just some of the questions that will be explored next month when National Underwriter publishes the results of the second “NU State of the Market” survey on May 24.

The survey, sponsored by Zurich North America, queried a sample of corporate insurance buyers and commercial brokers who subscribe to NU. Last year, the survey was only done once, in the fall, with the results published in the Nov. 20, 2003 edition. This year, NU will conduct two such surveys, with the results of the second one previewing the Jan. 1 renewals to run in the Nov. 15, 2004 edition.

Last year, the fall survey revealed that “rumors of the death of the hard market are greatly exaggerated.” Respondents noted that in most commercial lines, while rate hikes had fallen considerably, on average they remained in the double digits for many risk managersa moderating but hardly “soft” market.

In addition, the survey found that risk managers had increased their risk retention and stepped up loss control efforts to contain the cost of insurance.

This spring, the survey will reveal how much further average rate hikes have dropped in a dozen key lines, including business interruption, property, commercial auto, general liability and workers compensation.

The survey will also explore risk manager and broker attitudes about insurer services and market trends.

The survey is being conducted independently on behalf of NU and Zurich North America by The Response Center, a research firm based in Fort Washington, Pa.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 16, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.