The year got off to another slow start for property and casualty carriers, as MarketScout's monthly "Barometer" survey found U.S. commercial insurance pricing still soft, with premiums down an average of 4 percent in January.
That matches the average price cut for December 2009.
"The current soft market cycle seems to have no end," according to a statement from Richard Kerr, chief executive officer of MarketScout, an electronic insurance exchange based in Dallas.
"We are in the market doldrums and will be here until something changes," Mr. Kerr added. "Insurers must be patient. Rates will adjust, but nothing will happen quickly without a cataclysmic event of significant magnitude."
The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research conducted pricing surveys used in MarketScout's analysis of market conditions. MarketScout said NAIER surveys corroborate its actual findings, which are mathematically driven by actual new and renewal placements across the United States.
MarketScout said that by coverage class, seven sectors were down by 4 percent: commercial property, business interruption, businessowners packages, inland marine, general liability, umbrella/excess and commercial auto.
Directors and officers liability–one of the only coverages that went several months in 2009 without a rate decrease–slipped back into a softening trend, with an average rate decrease of 2 percent for January 2010.
Five other sectors were down just 1 percent: professional liability, employment practices liability insurance, fiduciary, crime and surety.
By account size, large accounts ($250,001 to $1 million) were down 5 percent,; jumbo accounts (over $1 million) were down 4 percent, as were medium accounts of $25,001 to $250,000; while small accounts (up to $25,000) were down 3 percent.
By industry class, prices for public entity and service risks were down 5 percent, while manufacturing was down 4 percent. Contracting, transportation and energy were all down 3 percent, while habitational exposures were down 2 percent.
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