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Commercial Market Movement in 2021

 Thu, April 8, 2021
commercial insurance rates
commercial insurance rates
Market expertise, putting together complete submissions, and selecting knowledgeable partners with access to available capacity are essential components to maneuvering in this challenging commercial environment. This year has shown similar movement as the end of 2020, with “rates increasing, nuclear verdicts, stricter underwriting, and increased cyber threats” [1]. Construction risks have also been affected by such conditions. Also, due to the pandemic, Cyber Liability seems to have a more intricate process for quoting. As you may have encountered, the Umbrella market has taken a hit from the start of the pandemic, and circumstances suggest the same trend for the remainder of 2021. So, you may be thinking, what changes should we expect from the market environment this year?

According to the Insurance Journal, we can expect price increases to surpass loss cost trends indicating coronavirus claims and more litigation, ultimately encouraging higher commercial rates over the next 12 months.

Construction

Our Halcyon team has been most successful with the Construction classes. Moving forward in 2021, we can expect a hard market for construction and may see it softening in 2022 [4]. Carriers are becoming more innovative with their rating structures to offer a bit of relief from these increases. In the umbrella space, the lead has reached its peak as Ben Beauvais at Liberty Mutual expressed “in 2016 $25 million was the nominal limit deployment that we saw on a lead umbrella… Now we’re seeing the limit pulled as low as $5 million in the lead umbrella space” [5]. For agents to effectively market these accounts, they need to start earlier and concentrate on submitting quality submissions to write new construction business successfully.

Cyber Liability

When it comes to cyber liability, carriers have been altering their appetites with more strict standards for excess and higher costs per million of coverage. As cyber-attacks become more common, especially within the last year, Brown & Brown mentioned how ransomware, business interruption, and social engineering are the leading causes of losses in all industries. Moreover, underwriters request supplemental applications for further details on ransomware, business interruption, and social engineering. Our Production Underwriter, Brian Polino, shared a few words on this matter,

“A few years ago, all you needed to get a cyber liability quote was the Insured’s revenues and then a one-page application to bind. All of that has changed in the past couple of years, culminating in the SolarWinds hack discovery in late 2020. For most classes now, cyber liability underwriters delve into the details, request ransomware supplementals, and perform tests on insured's websites for security holes. In sum, they are underwriting carefully now in this market. Moreover, we see rate increases of approximately 20% on most accounts. However, for those accounts that serve the supply chain side of the tech industry or have loss issues, 100% rate increases are not uncommon right now."

Cyber liability continues to see rate increases in 2021 as carriers are combing through the details of these risks. All businesses need to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves from potential cyber-attacks.

Umbrella

According to Brown & Brown, the umbrella market has reduced capacity, and the rise in pricing continues to be evident in small and middle-market commercial. Also, insurance carriers seem to position themselves on rates and coverage requirements expected to change their appetites. Brian mentioned,

"So far in Q1 of 2021, we see a compounding of the Umbrella rate increases from 2020. The story remains the same (especially for auto-driven exposures) – twice the price for the same limit while also taking twice the carriers to get to the same limit. Some bright spots in 2021, though, are that umbrellas with package underwriters or umbrellas for GL premises-driven risks do not seem to be impacted as much."

President of insurance carrier, Greater New York, suggests once carriers realized the occurrence of sudden large claims, they began to increase premiums [4]. The current state of the umbrella market has agents shopping for the lowest price they can access. There has been some leeway when bundled in a package or underlying general liability that is premise focused.

Conclusion

All in all, much of the insurance market is enduring severe premium increases. These challenging market conditions are anticipated to persist for the remainder of 2021 and possibly carry over to 2022, or at least until insurance carriers gain a better grasp in certain areas and avoid large settlements, as mentioned by Habitat magazine.

If your agency is not yet appointed with Halcyon, apply today! Agents need to have access to various carriers with a wholesale partner with established relationships and knowledgeable underwriters.

Sources:
[1] https://www.bbinsurance.com/news/property-casualty-market-trends-first-quarter-2021-report-now-available/
[2] https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2021/03/31/607804.htm
[3] https://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Bricks-Bucks/2021/March-2021/Umbrella-Insurance-Policies-Have-Sprung-a-Leak
[4] https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/broker-leadership/how-brokers-can-better-arm-their-construction-clients-in-a-hard-market-251060.aspx
[5] https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/risk-management/news/challenges-mounting-as-construction-insurance-market-continues-to-harden-228819.aspx

This content is strictly informational and should not be used as specific advice on insurance products, legal, accounting, and/or tax related matters. Insureds should always contact the appropriate licensed professional for their insurance, legal, accounting, or tax needs.

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