Surplus lines premium increased 10.3% in H1: WSIATotal surplus lines premium reported to the 15 US stamping offices was $19.74bn for the first half of 2020, up 10.3 percent over the same period in 2019, figures from the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA) have revealed.
Kessler to retire from Westchester as Meyer steps upScott Meyer will take over as the president of Chubb’s E&S insurance platform Westchester with Bruce Kessler moving to a chairman role at the unit before retiring at the end of the year. Meyer will be replaced as president of Chubb’s North America financial lines business by Steven Goldman.
MRSI confirms miscellaneous professional liability entryMunich Re Specialty Insurance (MRSI) has announced the release of a miscellaneous professional liability offering for non-specialist, commercial businesses, a move that was first revealed by The Insurer last month.
Hiscox launches variable consortium for ‘hard to place’ general liability risksHiscox and RKH Reinsurance Brokers have launched a new variable consortium targeting a wide range of general liability risks such as wildfire, trucking and construction.
Lowther and Zeng ILS manager to target “entire insurance value-chain”Richard Lowther and Lixin Zeng’s proposed property-focused start-up Integral ILS will target E&S business through a tie-up with wholesale giant AmWINS, and reinsurance and retro by working with TransRe as it looks to access the “entire insurance value-chain”.
E&S entrants should not overlook regulatory “sea change” since last waveLawyers at McDermott Will & Emery have suggested that the capital looking to get into the US excess and surplus lines (E&S) market should ensure they are using the post-Dodd-Frank playbook taking note of US regulatory changes in recent years.
Palomar to raise up to $94mn in latest offering as it targets E&S marketPalomar is looking to raise $94.3mn from its latest public offering with the company set to use some of the proceeds generated to add to the $50mn the carrier has already set aside to capitalise its newly formed excess and surplus lines business.
Global Indemnity plans US redomesticationAfter only four years of being based in the Cayman Islands, Global Indemnity Limited has announced it plans to redomesticate the company and its Bermuda subsidiary, Global Indemnity Reinsurance, to the US.
Palomar unveils platform to broaden offering into booming E&S marketSpecialty insurer Palomar Holdings is making a move into the rapidly expanding E&S market with the launch of Palomar Excess and Surplus Insurance Company (PESIC) to begin writing business during the second half of this year.
Retail and wholesale M&A to continue, predicts Nationwide E&S’s ClarkConsolidation will continue in both the retail and wholesale broker sectors, although it is unclear exactly how much more can actually be done in the latter market, according to Nationwide E&S president Tom Clark.
Nationwide E&S sees PL rates rise more than 50%Nationwide E&S is seeing big price increases in almost every line of business, the company’s president Tom Clark said on Friday, but he warned the new capital poised to enter the market could have a softening effect.
Gallagher: New business “surprisingly good” given Covid-19Arthur J Gallagher’s Pat Gallagher has struck a positive tone over the impact of Covid-19, saying the broker is confident it can “cost save our way through a lull in organic growth” and that some signs of improvement are emerging.
Ex-Validus exec Steinberg joins The Hartford as head of wholesale propertyWilliam Steinberg has joined The Hartford as head of wholesale property for Navigators, having previously worked at Validus Specialty Underwriters for five years.
Firm real estate and hab market to extend into 2021: AmWINSMulti-family placements in the real estate and habitational space are requiring more carriers to fill layers and seeing rate increases of up to 40 percent on loss-affected property accounts, while a dramatic cutback in excess casualty capacity is driving pricing to a level that is a “difficult pill to swallow” for insureds.
James River CEO says pricing possibly best he has ever seenSpecialty insurer James River’s CEO Adam Abram has said current pricing is possibly the best he has seen since he joined the industry, a period that includes what is widely acknowledged to be the last true hard market in the early 2000s.
AM Best puts StarStone US ratings under reviewAM Best has put the A- financial strength ratings of the US platform of StarStone being relaunched with $850mn of capital under review with negative implications.
Texas E&S premiums surge 13.4% in MayExcess and surplus lines (E&S) premium in Texas has continued to set a new monthly record each month of 2020, according to May figures from the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX).
E&S specialist Kinsale upgraded to A by AM BestA consistently strong performance when compared with its peers in the booming E&S market has seen AM Best upgrade the ratings of Kinsale Insurance Company.
AM Best keeps Hallmark under review to assess filing delaysAM Best has maintained the under review with negative implications status for up-for-sale US specialty insurer Hallmark Financial’s A- financial strength rating.
WR Berkley’s Nautilus promotes COO and CUO to EVPWR Berkley E&S and specialty lines insurer Nautilus Insurance Group has made a pair of promotions with both Trish Buckhardt and Tom Joyce appointed executive vice president.