Actions speak louder than words. That’s the implicit message to those insurers who continue to talk up rates in the insurance market.

Based on the available evidence, a lot of talk about a hardening insurance market is exactly that.

Sure there are the exceptions. Few storm-hit Queensland employers will be querying a 10% hike in premiums, while it would be churlish to query an increase if you are a bushfire-prone Victorian homeowner.

And trade credit insurers won’t be fighting to cover new clients with a chequered claims history.

But by and large, brokers contacted by insuranceNEWS.com.au say that when it comes to the crunch, discounts are still widely available from commercial insurers.

“They’re all talking a very good game,” Shadforth Insurance Brokers senior broker Gavin Statham told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “But are rates rising? Far from it. I’m surprised the insurers keep on saying that when you consider what they are actually doing.

“Perhaps they’ll try it in the future. Watch this space,” the Perth-based broker said.

NSW-based Action Entertainment Insurance Director Ian Stack holds a comparatively circumspect view but agrees widespread hikes are hard to come by.

“There are some increases in certain areas, but otherwise it’s stable,” he said. “The insurers are pushing rate increases but I haven’t seen it in many cases.”

It is an outlook that is also confirmed at the top end of town.

Marsh Executive Director Scott Leney says despite concern about the long-term sustainability of current insurance rating levels, “there is evidence that insurance markets globally have defied well-documented expectations of a universal hardening and buyers continue to enjoy relatively favourable market conditions”.

While there are exceptions by geography, industry segment and class of business, Mr Leney told insuranceNEWS.com.au that “in general, property and casualty prices have not moved significantly from the historically low levels set by insurers in recent years”.

What then, to make of the insurers’ assertions?

Late last month IAG CEO Mike Wilkins told an investor briefing the group’s improving performance is due to higher premiums in addition to other operating efficiencies.

As a result IAG is expecting an insurance margin at the top end of a forecast 9-11% fiscal guidance range.

At the Suncorp AGM last month, Chairman John Story told a similar story as he reflected on a year in which natural disasters and severe weather trimmed insurance profitability by some $255 million.

“All insurance brands experienced healthy premium growth as markets hardened in both short and long-tail products, with gross written premium up by 6%,” he said.

Fellow heavy-hitter QBE Australia has announced a year-to-date rate increase of 7.2% across all classes of its business.

Figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority would suggest the insurers are on the money.

Though it was a tough financial year for underwriting, insurers turned things around in the final quarter with a 5% increase in net premium revenue of $7.5 billion to June 30.

While the veracity of the insurers’ figures shouldn’t be questioned, it is important to remember that a broad-brush overview can mask what is really going on beneath the surface.

Territory Insurance Office (TIO) CEO Richard Harding provided a revealing insight in a refreshingly frank interview with insuranceNEWS.com.au last month.

He criticised some of the TIO’s main rivals in the Northern Territory, saying rates in workers’ compensation lines were 20-40% below “where we’d like them to be”.

It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Australia remains an irresistibly competitive insurance market, with pricing policies to match.