Property hikes drive global improvement in commercial insurance rates

Bermuda’s re/insurers will have been heartened by the findings of a recent report that suggests that commercial insurance pricing globally is continuing to rise steadily – if not dramatically – buoyed mainly by improvements in the pricing of property lines.

Global commercial insurance prices rose in the second quarter of 2018 for the third consecutive quarter, according to Marsh’s Global Insurance Market Index.

The increase was largely driven by insurance pricing for property lines, which continued to be affected by 2017 catastrophe losses, and by increases in financial and professional lines.

Globally, property insurance pricing increased 2.3 percent, on average. Financial and professional lines pricing increased 3.3 percent on average in the quarter, driven by increases in several regions, most notably Australia. Casualty pricing declined, on average, by 1.4 percent.

Prices trended up in most regions with Australia averaging the largest increase, while prices decreased slightly in Continental Europe and Asia.

“The global property insurance market continues to be impacted by last year’s losses, and we are now seeing increases in financial and professional lines pricing in several regions,” said Dean Klisura, president global placement and specialties at Marsh.

“However, overall pricing is generally stable across all lines of business and market capacity remains strong.”