E&S/Specialty

The National Council of Insurance Legislators' passed a revised version of its "SLIMPACT" proposal to implement the federal law modernizing the surplus lines industry, but it did so without support from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Employment in the property and casualty insurance industry declined in September 2010 compared to August, and declined by 2.9 percent compared to September 2009, casting doubt on hopes that industry employment trends were turning around.

Although municipal bonds make up 27 percent of the investment portfolios of property and casualty insurers, even bond losses of $2 billion to $4 billion that could result from extreme stress scenarios are expected to be manageable, Moody's reported.

The vast majority of domestic specialty carriers put the size of the program business market at $20 billion or over in a recent survey, and a third of the respondents believes the market is over $40 billion.

Implementation of the federal law streamlining multistate taxation and regulation of business placed in the E&S market is rapidly morphing into an intense confrontation between industry representatives and state regulators.

For the most part, participants in the excess and surplus lines industry expect a replay of 2010 market conditions in 2011.