Friday, April 6, 2012

Commercial Property/Casualty Rates Continue Moving Up

Business Insurance
By Mark Hofmann
April 5, 2012

Commercial property/casualty insurance rates increased an average of 3% in March compared with a year earlier, MarketScout reported Thursday.

According to the Dallas-based electronic insurance exchange, workers compensation and commercial property experienced the greatest rate increases at 4% each.

No line of insurance tracked by MarketScout reported a rate decrease, although rates for fiduciary and crime insurance remained flat compared with those of a year earlier.

Among industry classes, manufacturing, contracting, transportation and energy each experienced 3% rate increases; service and habitational accounts registered 2% increases; and public entities experienced the smallest increase at 1%.

“Our results continue to show a slow and steady path towards rate increases in all segments,” whether by line of coverage, industry group or account size, MarketScout CEO Richard Kerr said in a statement.

Vigilant Transport: Another factor driving rate increases is the vulnerability to rising interest rates.

"Interest rate increases could result in a capital loss of between $40 billion and $60 billion on the industry's $874 billion bond portfolio in 2012, or 7% to 11% of its equity capital base,"

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