Good property risks have enjoyed two consecutive quarters of price cuts for the first time in five years, WTW says in a Pacific market update. 

Pacific head of broking Trent Williams says reductions are available where there is a strong commitment to risk management and compelling underwriting submissions are made to the market.

“Those that are cat-exposed or challenged by way of claims are still seeing some increases, but nowhere near as severe as previous years,” he says in the third-quarter video update.

The market overall has continued to move in favour of clients, with capacity returning in liability and a much more favourable environment, particularly in excess layers. Primary liability is generally flat.

Premium reductions of 15% have been recorded for professional and financial lines in some cases, while strong competition has continued in cyber. 

Competition is also seen for good risks in contract works, construction liability, and design and construct professional indemnity, where the market has been challenging in recent years.

Globally, WTW describes the third quarter as “a softening market rather than a soft market”, with insurers focused on growth and market positioning.

“There are more lines of business at the moment where there are moderating rates than there are increasing rates,” global head of corporate risk and broking Alastair Swift said.

“But we shouldn’t be unaware that there are still areas and pockets of the market where there’s some rating pressures and some rating dynamics.”

Mr Swift says there is still a “modicum of underwriting discipline”.

“As we get more and more towards the end of the year, if the loss activity stays at this rate and level it is at the moment, I would anticipate that actually there may be a little quickening of that softening ... as people look to achieve those growth budgets,” he said.

US casualty lines have continued to experience significant pressures, while secondary catastrophe perils are also a focus for insurers.

In cyber, there has been a greater focus on managing systemic events by developing models to deploy capacity more effectively and potentially offer larger limits.  

“We expect the focus on cyber risk modelling to provide organisations with better coverage options, particularly where businesses can bring their own advanced predictive modelling to conversations with insurers,” WTW says.

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