Texas Stamping Office: U.S. Surplus Lines Growth Continued in 2015
Collectively, the surplus lines insurance service/stamping offices across the country processed a record-breaking $25 billion in premium in 2015, exhibiting 3.6 percent growth over the $24.2 billion in premium processed during 2014, the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLSOT) announced.
Annually, the SLSOT conducts a study using aggregated premium and filing statistics from the 14 surplus lines service/stamping offices across the nation. Compared over a five-year historical trend, the national surplus lines growth in premium showed an impressive 35 percent increase since 2010 levels.
Across the nation during 2015, the surplus lines service/stamping offices showed considerable variance.
With an increase of 1.9 percent, California led the states with the highest premium volume at $6.1 billion. Texas and Florida followed closely behind with reported premium of $5.02 and $4.9 billion, respectively. Another state leader in the service/stamping offices is New York, which had solid growth of 7 percent and ended the year at $3.6 billion in reported premium.
Oregon showed the largest percentage gain (16.6 percent) of all surplus line service/stamping offices with $331 million in reported premium. Oregon’s growth has stemmed from a number of factors, to include rising premiums felt in the construction, restaurant, and logging/lumbering industries.
Illinois also saw an increase (14.6 percent) with $1.4 billion in reported premium due to a partial contributing factor of delayed premium reported from prior years.
On the other end of spectrum, Pennsylvania sustained a 13 percent decrease in surplus lines premium, while Mississippi experienced a flat year over year by maintaining its annual surplus lines volume.
Regionally, the South service/stamping offices recorded the highest premium volume at $10.3 billion, while the Western states followed with $8.2 billion in total premium.
In summary, the surplus lines marketplace continues to outperform year over year, and remains positioned for future growth as new exposures and coverage needs evolve, according to SLSOT.