Standard Writers Muscle In Soft markets mean standard writers look more kindly on risks they once shunned.


“Would you say that admitted carriers are now writing vacant properties? Yes. But are they writing sophisticated accounts? Yes. But I see them leaking into that one-offs and one-offs and one-offs and they are aggressive. They want them.”


Steven DeCarlo, AmWINS


Following several years of declining rates, property/casualty writers focused on traditional business, known within the Excess and Surplus community as “standard writers,” they have become more accommodating about accepting risks that formerly might have gone to the surplus lines markets, panelists said.


They won’t chase all risks, Neal Abernathy said. “There are times where it’s prudent to have a nonadmitted carrier that you can write business in, depending on the legal environment, the state you’re dealing with, the type of business.”


Even standard carriers that may be willing to write some risks they formerly avoided, such as commercial buildings that become vacant, are not about to change their business completely, Steven DeCarlo said. “Take that one vacant building. Can it be written by an admitted carrier today in the typical standard product? Yes. Eight hundred of those on a bank schedule in 50 states? Now you’re probably in our game. In the specialty market, it’s diffi cult to fi nd the right carriers to play.”


Copyright © 2010 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means; electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14