E&S

Ryan calls on industry to hire younger and more diverse candidates

E&S Insurer Lifetime Achievement Award winner Pat Ryan has urged the industry to recruit a younger and more diverse workforce to help fill its ranks.

E&S property panel: Rate increases expected to accelerate through June

E&S property price increases are likely to accelerate through at least mid-year while the sector is still struggling with heavy submission flow, with the challenge in getting responses from underwriters as well as the impact of MGAs adding further friction to the process, panellists at the E&S Insurer Conference said.

CEO panel: E&S poised for further hardening

The E&S market is poised for a further hardening while it is “impossible” that excess casualty underwriters are currently on top of loss costs given the continued impact of both social and economic inflation and jury awards and settlements that remain on the rise, delegates at the E&S Insurer Conference in New York City heard on Wednesday.

Flandro: Finding new capacity in E&S key to addressing property cat crunch

Howden Tiger’s David Flandro has highlighted the need for MGAs to find capacity where others cannot to enable the E&S market to play its role as the home of creativity for hard-to-place risks and address a property cat crunch that has been driven by the most challenging reinsurance market of his career.

Argo’s E&S head Duncan exits to join Travelers’ Northfield operation

Argo’s head of excess and surplus lines Marsh Duncan is leaving to join the E&S operations of Travelers - Northfield Insurance Company - arriving as president of the firm and filling a role vacated by Eric Blecker last September, The Insurer can reveal.

Sanders: Markel will walk away from inadequately priced business

As pricing and terms and conditions start to soften in certain E&S professional liability and casualty lines, Markel’s Bryan Sanders has said it is imperative rates remain ahead of loss costs with the executive warning the carrier will walk away from business that does not meet its expectations.

RT Specialty’s Tim Turner: E&S market change secular not cyclical

Speaking at the inaugural E&S Insurer Conference, RT Specialty chairman and CEO Tim Turner has hailed a “golden age” for excess and surplus lines, and suggested the rapid change in the $100bn+ sector is more structural and secular than cyclical.

Postcard from WSIA UW Summit: Market faces even tougher property renewals

There were numerous “hot topics” on the agenda at last week’s WSIA’s Underwriting Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, but undoubtedly the main theme to emerge from conversations with senior wholesale executives was that tough property market conditions – driven by last year’s storm activity and surging reinsurance costs – are here to stay.

SLAC adds Mayet to compliance team and promotes Trumbly

The Surplus Line Association of California (SLAC) has added Amwins’ Yusuf Mayet to its compliance team while the group has also promoted Barbara Trumbly to senior vice president.

Fortegra UW and fee margin hits $78mn as CR ticks up 40bps to 89.8% in Q4

Specialty and E&S carrier Fortegra’s underwriting and fee margin grew by 16.5 percent to $78mn in Q4 2022 while the insurer’s combined ratio for the period ticked up 40 basis points to 89.8 percent.

Kinsale hands McMorrow and Gentry senior underwriting promotions

Kinsale Capital Group has named Brendan McMorrow as senior vice president, underwriting, one of four senior promotions the E&S-focused carrier made at the beginning of this month.

Nationwide names Johnston to lead combined commercial lines unit

Nationwide has appointed Russ Johnston to head up the newly unified commercial lines business unit within the mutual giant’s P&C organisation.

Heritage eyes E&S opportunities, exhausts Irma private reinsurance cover

Following an earnings beat that saw investors send its shares up over 30 percent on Friday, the management of Heritage Insurance Holdings has said the carrier will expand its excess and surplus lines business to South Carolina in Q2, as well as revealing loss creep has exhausted its private reinsurance cover for Hurricane Irma.

James River’s D’Orazio: E&S conditions to remain “quite favourable throughout 2023”

James River shares spiked Tuesday morning after a modest Q4 earnings beat and the carrier’s disclosure it has suspended writing casualty reinsurance, as CEO Frank D’Orazio told analysts the firm took “odd” clash losses in the quarter but provided a bullish outlook for the “very robust” E&S environment.

GuideOne shuts down E&S property but will keep casualty open

GuideOne CEO Bernie Hengesbaugh announced on Friday that the Iowa-based mutual insurer is exiting its E&S specialty property business - which grew to around $120mn in premium at its height - in a major reversal after the portfolio was rapidly-scaled under former head of specialty Mark Groenheide, The Insurer can reveal.

E&S-focused insurtech OIP to open Hyderabad office

E&S-focused insurtech Outsource Insurance Professionals has unveiled plans to open an office in Hyderabad, India.

LIO Insurance Group’s specialty subsidiary gets A- rating from AM Best

LIO Specialty Insurance Company has been assigned a financial strength rating of A- and a long-term issuer credit rating of “a-” by AM Best, with the ratings of its more established parent LIO Insurance Company affirmed.

XPT Specialty buys Texas-based wholesaler Craig & Leicht

Expansive BP Marsh-backed wholesale commercial insurance intermediary XPT Specialty has acquired Texas-based agency Craig & Leicht.

Amwins: Market is a “roller coaster” with no property softening in sight

Some segments of the E&S sector are seeing softening while others such as property face “the hardest market conditions in decades”, according to wholesale broking giant Amwins.

Kinsale shares rise 15% on Q4 beat and “favourable” E&S market outlook

Kinsale Capital Group management has provided a bullish outlook for the E&S market, reporting real rate increases ticked down one point sequentially in the fourth quarter to 7 percent while submission growth stayed strong at 20 percent, with investors responding by sending its shares up 15 percent following a Q4 earnings beat.