Insurance rates up globally – Marsh

 The global insurance market continued to firm in the first quarter of this year, predominantly on the back of rate increases in the US, but overall it went up by just 0.3 percent, according to Marsh figures.

Excluding the US, rates decreased on average by around 1 percent. Overall global property rates were down by 0.2 percent on renewal but casualty insurance prices rose by 0.7 percent.

The increase in liability rates was much contributed by concerns over the euro zone’s economic woes. The region’s financial institutions generally faced increases of up to 10 percent for liability cover in Q1.

By contrast, rates in other liability lines, and for financial institutions outside the eurozone, were generally either stable or declined during the first quarter of this year, said Marsh.

The continued firming of global insurance rates in the first quarter of 2013 follows a trend witnessed over the previous 18 months, according to figures released in Marsh’s latest Global Insurance Market Quarterly Briefing.

The data based on the Marsh Risk Management Global Insurance Index that represents a composite or weighted average of rate change activity over the preceding four quarters, shows a fifth consecutive quarter of global average rate increases.

During the first quarter, the index, which was based at 100.0 in the second quarter of 2012, rose by 0.1 points to 101.3.

This translates to the uptick in renewed global insurance rates of 0.3 percent, following an increase of 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

But changes varied by lines of business and geography.

In North America most major insurance lines recorded increases of between 2 percent and 4 percent, heavily contributing to the small rise worldwide.

For liability insurance, financial institutions in the eurozone continue to face increases.

Pricing was up between 0 percent and 10 percent in all the region’s countries tracked by Marsh-France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Peripheral eurozone players Turkey and Russia saw increases of up to 10 percent and 20 percent respectively.