Introduction and market commentary
Introduction and market commentary
Welcome to the latest North American bulletin, growth is the theme throughout this edition.
- London is in positive growth mode after record results announced, security upgrade and increased capacity announcements as Lloyd’s announced results.
- Appetite has broadened and there is greater competition. All good news for policyholders. Learn about recent successes and products to inspire and inform.
- We have also continued to grow and made our exciting announcement of GIC becoming our sole external shareholder. This will drive an even sharper focus on building the non-conflicted platform of choice for you and your clients.
- We have been consistently recruiting more quality people to add to our service capabilities and offering. Meet more of the team inside.
- Education and future talent is vital to our industry, another guest contribution on the value of learning about how to access London for commercial advantage.
- Our largest team ever will be at Risk World RIMS in San Diego – come and meet them.
Market commentary
In our January bulletin, we suggested that in general terms the market was at the “top of a slippery slope” and transitioning into its next phase of the market cycle.
In many lines of business this does now indeed seem to be the case, certainly from a London perspective. Most markedly in the property sector where appetite has broadened and line sizes increased. The positive knock on effect is that underwriters will now consider lower TIVs even as low as USD100m for tough occupancies, they have also reduced their minimum premium thresholds. Discipline is still in effect but appetite has broadened.
Almost across the board in all lines, new business is pursued aggressively and renewals are being defended. In numerous cases we are not just retaining, but increasing the size of the orders. This is to the advantage of policyholders that have become fatigued when presented with year on year rate increases even if they had not suffered loss themselves.
Lloyd’s announced record positive results and there is a confident mood. Capacity has also increased by 10% for 2024 to an annual premium capability of GBP57m (circa USD72.5m). Risk selection, quality submissions and relationships are still very important.
London in any transition cycle is usually at least four to five months ahead of changes in the US domestic market, be that tightening or flexing. This means that now London is proving to be a very good choice for policyholders to bring their business.
The Canadian market having experienced further consolidation is generally more difficult to summarise, there appears to be less consistency for what is in appetite domestically. Larger and more complex risks are still prevalent in London.
Our message is therefore to encourage you to engage with our practitioners at an early stage to determine the best approach for new and renewal business. The prevailing environment means that there even are more opportunities to win together.