Credit insurance bucks the trend of downward or flat pricing, says Marsh
Despite the global recession, the commercial insurance market remained stable in the second half of 2009, according to Marsh.
This provided many organisations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with opportunities to enhance their insurance protection or obtain price reductions for some types of coverage.
Marsh looked at 10 major commercial insurance lines across 42 countries in EMEA. The report finds that organisations across EMEA continue to secure premium rate reductions for most types of insurance in the second half of 2009 as a result of intense competition among established insurers and new marketplace entrants affording additional capacity and offering new products.
Among changes to insurance rates for various classes of business across EMEA, Marsh found:
• Property: rate reductions of up to 40% to 50%
• Motor: rate reductions of up to 40% to 50%
• Casualty: rate reductions of up to 20% to 30%
• Employers’ liability/workers’ compensation: rate reductions of up to 20% to 30%
• Professional indemnity insurance: rate reductions of up to 10% to 20%
• Directors’ and officers’ liability: rate reductions up to 10%
However, Marsh’s data reveals that trade credit and financial institutions insurance buck the trend of downward or flat pricing:
• Increases in trade credit insurance coverage ranged from more than 50% in Greece and Lithuania. The average increase in the UK and Ireland ranged from 10% to 30%.
• Increases in financial institutions’ insurance ranged from more than 40% to 50% in Turkey, to 10% in Switzerland and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland, increases ranged from 10% to 30%. Rates remained flat in 14 countries, including Sweden, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
