Directors and Officers, Workers’ Compensation Premiums Drop; Property Premiums Increase Slightly
New Orleans, April 30, 2007 — According to the RIMS Benchmark Survey, the first quarter of 2007 reflected a continuation of the same commercial insurance pricing trends reported in 2006. The RIMS Benchmark Survey™ is the industry’s leading comprehensive survey of current policy renewal prices as reported by corporate risk managers.
Directors and Officers (D&O) continues to be a highly competitive line. In the first quarter of 2007, D&O decreased by 7.7 percent and by more than 12 percent in the last two quarters of 2006 combined. Workers’ compensation also reflected further rate reductions. In the first quarter, workers’ compensation decreased by 3.8 percent, and falling premiums show no sign of abating.
Property insurance was the only line of business that increased in the first quarter. Rates reflected an 0.8 percent increase.
“A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina, companies with properties in catastrophe-exposed regions are still seeing premiums rise, but trends continue to be quite favorable in other regions and other lines of insurance,” says Joseph Restoule, RIMS secretary and member of the board of directors. “Risk managers are especially benefiting from steadily falling workers’ compensation premiums in many areas.”
“2006 was a banner year for the insurance industry with some insurers reporting record profits. That will encourage companies to compete even more vigorously for business, which is good news for risk managers,” says David Bradford, editor-in-chief of Advisen. “However, forecasters predict that 2007 will be an active year for hurricanes, and a severe catastrophe could stop this soft market in its tracks.”
General liability premiums decreased slightly in the fourth quarter by 0.8 percent. These premiums have been steadily falling at a controlled pace for the past five quarters.
About The RIMS Benchmark Survey
The RIMS Benchmark Survey™ is produced by Advisen, Ltd., which collects and analyzes the data and provides the technology infrastructure for the survey’s online services. Advisen introduced the “Broker Authorization Letter” that enables Risk Managers and buyers of insurance to contribute to the RIMS Benchmark Survey™ by designating their broker to provide the client’s program details. The letter is available at www.RIMS.org/brokerform or by calling 800.655.6590. Risk management professionals can also contribute by e-mailing current and prior year policy schedules to [email protected] or by faxing to 212.655.7453.
Risk managers who contribute data to the survey can benchmark the structure of their commercial insurance programs, retained loss costs, exposure demographics and Total Cost of Risk (TCOR) against a highly-relevant group of peer companies. Additionally, survey respondents can use software personalized and configured for their needs to view detailed schedules of insurance, programs for current and past years and full-color program tower charts. Both benchmark charts and program charts download into any presentation for senior management. The results of the RIMS Benchmark Survey™ are available online or in an annually-published book. Visit www.RIMS.org/benchmark.
About the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc.
The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the practice of risk management, a professional discipline that protects physical, financial and human resources. Founded in 1950, RIMS represents nearly 4,000 industrial, service, nonprofit, charitable, and governmental entities. The Society serves more than 10,000 risk management professionals around the world. For more information, visit www.RIMS.org.
About Advisen
Advisen Ltd. equals success for insurance professionals, driving growth and profitability through the broadest platform of analytics and information services. Designed and evolved by risk and insurance experts, and used daily by more than 100,000 professionals, Advisen combines the industry’s deepest data sets with proprietary analytics and applications that drive the risk and insurance lifecycle. Advisen is headquartered in New York with offices in London. For more information, visit www.advisen.com or call 212.897.4800.
Tags: Advisen, benchmarking, Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
