Global Insurance Rates Continue to Moderate with 11% Increase in Q1

Marsh LLC reported an 11% increase in global commercial insurance prices in the first quarter in its latest Global Insurance Market Index, which was released on Wednesday.

Source: Business Insurance | Published on April 27, 2022

Commerical Lines rates moderate

According to Marsh, this was the 18th consecutive quarter of increases, but it was also the fifth consecutive quarter in which global pricing moderated since its peak of 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Slower rates of increase in financial and professional lines resulted in moderated rates in most geographies during the quarter, said Marsh.

However, rate increases for these lines continue to outpace those for property and casualty lines on a global basis, owing primarily to cyber pricing, with average rate increases of 26% in the quarter, compared to 7% for property and 4% for casualty lines.

Cyber continued to defy the overall trend of rate declines, with significant rate increases of 110% in the United States and 102% in the United Kingdom for the quarter, according to Marsh.

In the United States, average rate increases were 12%, down from 14% in the fourth quarter of 2021. Property insurance price increases in the United States remained unchanged in the quarter at 7%, as did casualty at 4%, while financial and professional lines pricing moderated to 28%, down from 34% in the previous quarter.

Latin America and the Caribbean were the only regions to see rate increases accelerate, with rates rising to 6% in the quarter, up from 4% in the previous quarter.