European Insurance Market Update Q2 2024

Property

The property market is in growth after several years' remediation of portfolios with:

• Eagerness for new business, especially towards retention which is a key driver to meet growth ambitions.
• The large and complex market experiencing growth in capacity for new and existing insurers.
• Carriers investing in the mid-market and selecting specific markets to meet targets with good loss ratios and limited natural catastrophe exposure.
• Carriers more likely to underwrite well managed risks, showing the importance of good risk quality. However, there is still a lack of appetite and less capacity for lines such as high natural catastrophe exposed accounts or submissions lacking detailed information.

Casualty

• In the casualty market, insurers remain focused on growth. Ambitious insurer growth targets have created an increasingly competitive space which in turn unlocks rate reductions. Underwriting discipline and careful risk selection continues to yield positive results.
• Budget concerns are also likely to create further competition among insurers as we close in on year end, leading to further downward pressure on rates. Consequently, some insured parties are benefiting from rate reductions as a result. However, for difficult sectors especially with significant US exposure and loss impacted renewals, capacity remains limited.
• Insurers continue to express ongoing concern regarding both economic and social inflation on a global scale.

Financial, Professional and Executive Risks

• The directors’ and officers’ (D&O) market is continuing to soften, and we see no signs of stabilization.
• The professional indemnity (PI) market characterized by its stability, is now beginning to soften. Additionally, the cyber and the financial institutions market are both softening.
• There is enough capacity in the Western Europe market where most carriers are looking for growth.

Construction

• In construction, there is expected deceleration of growth in the industry across the region. Output is expected to recover in 2025 but with high interest rates and inflation harming investment.

Trade Credit

• Economic challenges such as recessions in Europe, high interest rates, and limited liquidity persist with, appetite for credit is expected to tighten further in 2024.
• Despite slightly declining premium rates and competition for new business, there is ample capacity, particularly for sectors such as pharmaceuticals and food and beverage.

Crisis Management

• Includes terrorism/political violence, special crime, contingency, piracy and accident & health, where insurers' focus continues to be on multiple geo-political and socio-economic factors. Hostilities in certain regions including Ukraine and the Middle East, alongside worsening security conditions and ramifications of the '2024 year of elections', are contributing to changes in policy terms and rates.
• There is ample capacity, but we are seeing some territorial limitations, reductions in individual line sizes, and premium hikes due to increased claims frequency and security risks.