Cyber Insurance Rates Up, Unlike Other Commercial Rates

Cyber insurance stood out in the third quarter as the only line for which insurers saw consistent and large rate increases, which averaged more than 15 percent in the United States, according to the latest analysis from Marsh.

Even with that pocket of price gains, the quarter still marked the tenth straight quarter of declining commercial lines insurance rates overall, for all lines taken together, Marsh reported in the November 2015 “Global Insurance Market Quarterly Briefing.”

Key contributors to a 4.8 percent overall global decline in renewal rates were falling property insurance rates in every region tracked by Marsh, with the most pronounced property declines coming in the Asia-Pacific (more than 7.5 percent drops), followed by Continental Europe and the United States (where average property rates dropped 5-7.5 percent).

Casualty rates declined less than property in all regions. In the United States and Continental Europe, for example, casualty rates fell by 2.5 percent or less, on average and ,

The only other increases noted in the report came in financial and professional lines in the United States and Latin America, with the U.S. hikes boosted by the cyber line. Both regions saw small rate hikes—2.5 percent or less—in financial and professional lines overall.

In contrast, rates for financial and professional lines in the U.K. dropped more than 7.5 percent, Marsh reported.