Insurance News
Less claim predominance helps
7 July 2008
THE LACK of the predominance of claims they would have expected under tort reform so prices had flattened and adjustables had remained at modest levels in the current renewals market place, according to Wayne Miller, of Australian Consolidated Insurance Limited.
Professional risk remained stable or was reducing, he told InsuranceNewsAustralia.com
Premiums for D&O cover in large public companies remained firm while in private companies or small market capitalised public companies the market was relatively soft and premiums continued to reduce.
Finally, motor fleets were being rated according to risk so companies with a history of losses were feeling the pain because there was no subsidisation of motor fleets. The market was firm and pricing was stable.
“Clients are seeing a lot of negative input from a whole range of sources, banking, finance and media. So small to medium enterprise businesses are not price switching for the sake of saving a couple of hundred dollars unless they are very small businesses indeed,” he said.
“The saturation of advertising by direct market insurers is not causing significant loss of business clients. Small business Australia works with insurance brokers because of the high level of service and efficiency.”
Mr Miller said that a tough economic outlook could cause difficulties in quoting premiums. Debt could push out creating an environment for premium funding. It presented opportunities for brokers who were on their game.
He said it was not a time for clients to reduce the level of their cover though there might be a case for reducing the limit of cover where there was minimal exposure.