A growing number of class actions and evolving risks for company leaders are creating challenges for the US directors’ and officers’ (D&O) market, Fitch Ratings says.

The number of federal securities class action filings jumped 52% to 412 last year, according to Cornerstone Research data included in a Fitch report, while filings related to merger objections more than doubled to a record high.

“Traditional filings related to allegations including misrepresentations in financial documents or false forward-looking statements increased for the seventh straight year,” the ratings agency says.

Courts are more inclined to hold executives individually accountable for corporate crimes, while the proliferation of cyber attacks provides a new source of risk.

“These can lead to more allegations of a lack of management oversight of information system security and lax risk management,” Fitch says. “Class action filings related to cryptocurrencies are also a recent phenomenon.”

The Willis Towers Watson Marketplace Realities report predicts D&O pricing overall will be flat to 7% lower this year, with capacity relatively unchanged and competition for business remaining intense.

Public company excess layer rates could drop 5-15%, while private and non-profit organisations, which have had less favourable underwriting experience in recent years, may see moderate price rises.