Insurance Marketplace Realities 2026 – Directors and Officers Liability

Rate predictions: Directors and officers liability

	Trend	Range
Public company: primary/excess/Side A		-3% to flat
Private company: primary/excess/Side A		-5% to flat

Key takeaway

The D&O market remains competitive, with the abundance of capacity moderated by continued pressures toward rate stabilization. Reductions may still be available on a case-by-case basis, but we anticipate the most likely renewal outcome to be flat for stable risk profiles. We are monitoring the potential for changes to the market that may result from broader macroeconomic conditions.

Underwriting

• Public company
  • Rate environment: Initial indications from markets are likely to be flat, but there may be potential support for modest decreases on a case-by-case basis. Looking ahead into late 2025 and 2026, we anticipate markets to signal greater pressures toward rate correction, particularly on excess layers where pricing may be falling below an insurer’s perceived minimum rate per million of coverage.
  • Focus on coverage/“driving value in a stable rate environment”: Where insurers may be less able to agree to more favorable pricing, they may be amenable to differentiating their offerings with other areas of value, such as enhanced coverage, including the addition of entity investigations costs coverage and increased sublimits where feasible.

• Private company
• Primary: Insureds with stable risk profiles continue to see enhanced competition, with a floor of flat renewals and decreases when marketed. Carriers may offer guaranteed renewals and potentially multiyear policy terms, with a refreshed annual aggregate. The market for higher risk profiles is improving but can still be challenging; however, increases remain rare.
• Excess: As pricing decreases continue to manifest, we are starting to see a flattening in increased limits factors (ILFs).
• Retentions: For challenged risks, carriers are pressing for higher retentions. Severity of increases most often depend on prior renewal increases and the need, if any, for continued correction. For smaller risks, lowered SIRs are persistent, allowing insurers to remain competitive.
• Increased deployment: Carriers are willing to regularly deploy capacity for preferred risks. Additional capacity can be found for more risks. This is having an impact on market conditions more broadly, especially for more desirable risks.

• Challenged risk profiles
• Non-U.S. parent with U.S. exposures
• Liquidity challenged and pre-restructuring/bankruptcy risks
• Challenged industries, e.g., AI-exposed organizations; oil and gas, healthcare, life sciences, higher education, cryptocurrency, cannabis
• IPOs, de-SPAC business combinations

Despite challenges and anticipated potential for increases, capacity remains available.

• Risk profile focus
• Adaptability to macroeconomic and political conditions, including tariffs and trade practices, regulatory uncertainty, economic policy shifts, and pressures surrounding ESG (including climate and DEI practices)
• AI integration and adaptedness
• Cyber/privacy: adequacy of disclosures, oversight
• Financial strength
• Industry
• Claim history
• Loss-cost escalation
• Systemic exposures
• Exposures to government funding

Download the full D&O report to the right.

Contacts

---

John M. Orr

D&O Liability Product Leader, FINEX NA

email Email

---

Lawrence Fine

Management Liability Coverage Leader,
FINEX North America

email Email phone +1 212 309 3623

---