Texas Surplus Office Projects 2016 Increase in Premium, Filings

December 22, 2016

Projections show that the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas is on track to surpass fourth quarter premium totals set in the past two years, according to data prepared by the office.

The amount of surplus lines filings with SLTX year to date are higher than amounts recorded in 2014 or 2015.

SLTX Executive Director Norma Essary said the office has seen a growth in surplus lines specialty coverages. For example, the amount of flood policies in the state have increased by 159 percent since 2010, data from the office shows.

“We truly wanted to look at Texas flood and be able to assess what’s happening there, because there’s been a 51 percent increase from 2014 to 2015,” Essary said in a statement.

According to data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, there were six disaster declarations in Texas between May 2015 and June 2016. There were five disaster declarations in the state between 2007 and 2010. The increase in flood events across the state and the impact of these events led to an increase in policies in both the primary and surplus lines market, according to the office.

Aside from flood, SLTX data shows that terrorism policies have increased by 122 percent since 2010, and cyber liability policies have increased by 747 percent in the same time period.

SLTX received a request from the Federal Insurance Office regarding data it collected on cyber liability policies, and Essary expects the office will receive more requests of this type as interest in these policies grows.

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