E&S/Specialty

When Michael Turk, senior consultant for Towers Perrin, pulled together figures for his firm's annual directors and officers liability insurance survey back in 2007, something just didn't seem right.

A reputation in the umbrella liability business distinguishes W.H. Greene & Associates, and according to President Bill Greene, that's a foot in the door of retail agency customers for the East Aurora, N.Y.-based wholesaler and MGU.

Emerging insurance losses were the focus of several of 2009's top stories for the E&S/specialty lines segment--with a Ponzi schemer, a pandemic and an imported product bringing unexpected exposures into focus this year.

Beyond Ponzi schemes and pandemics, links from the 2009 editions of NU's E&S/Specialty Lines Extra e-newsletter took readers to articles about more expected topics...

Civil litigation costs rose only 1.1 percent in 2008, but this year the percentage may have nearly tripled, driven up by damage from the financial crisis and medical malpractice cases, a consulting firm reported.

On the heels of Fitch Ratings' negative analysis of the property and casualty insurance industry's near-term future, an analyst with Celent said he is even more pessimistic about the industry than Fitch.

Disappointing returns on equity in the coming year may lead the property and casualty insurance industry to a quicker return to stiffer pricing, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts.

A change in statutory accounting rules by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners could help insurers' financial flexibility, but it will not impact their ratings, said an analyst with Moody's Investors Service.