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Global Insurance Market Index

Pacific pricing Q3 2023

Insurance pricing in the Pacific region increased 1% in the third quarter, compared to 2% in the prior quarter. Marsh's latest Global Insurance Market Index tracks insurance pricing trends by region and insurance lines.
January 10, 2019. Sydney, Australia. Landscape aerial view of Sydney Opera house near Sydney business center around the harbour.

Australia-Pacific insurance markets: Financial and professional lines continue to drive overall pricing moderation

Insurance pricing in the Pacific region increased 1% in the third quarter, compared to 2% in the prior quarter. Globally, average pricing increase in the third quarter was 3%, the same as in the prior quarter according to the Marsh Global Insurance Market Index*.

Pacific Insurance Pricing in Q3 2023

Property insurance pricing in the Pacific increased 2%, compared to 5% in the prior quarter, with loss impacted and CAT-exposed risks again seeing the highest increases.

  • Underwriters remained cautious, making it essential at renewals that declared values be supported by formal valuations and/or adequate inflation loadings.

  • In New Zealand, the emergence of flood risk, primarily during the first quarter, has led to greater scrutiny by underwriters of coverage, pricing, and insurers’ own loss modelling.  

  • Some positive signs emerged for insureds as competition returned with the introduction of capacity.

Casualty/liability insurance pricing rose 5%, compared to 7% in the prior quarter.

  • Risk selection and pricing adequacy continued to be critical, with varied results for higher hazards sectors, particularly on excess lines.

  • Insurers focused on social inflation resulting from litigation trends and material costs.

  • New capacity in the market fostered increased competition.

Financial and professional lines pricing decreased 5%, after declining 8% in the prior quarter.  

  • D&O pricing continued to decrease, with many clients experiencing declines of 15% or more.

  • Competition remained strong for primary and excess layers from both new insurers and legacy carriers.

  • Macro-economic impacts, such as inflation and interest rate pressures, were important factors for underwriters. 

  • Use of generative artificial intelligence is being monitored for potential claims trends.

Cyber insurance pricing increased 6%, compared to 8% in the prior quarter.

  • Improved competition from insurers generally led to more coverage and retention options for clients, such as increased limits, decreased retentions, and improved pricing for a similar policy structure.

  • Insurers focused on critical risk, dynamic privacy regulations and the continued threat of ransomware.

  • Risk management remained important, particularly regarding the ability of clients to mitigate ransomware threats.

Constant bar chart represents global insurance composite pricing change.

Global insurance pricing

Across the regions, composite pricing changes for the third quarter were as follows: 

  • US: +4%

  • UK: -1%

  • Canada: -1%

  • Europe: +4%

  • Latin America and the Caribbean: +10%

  • Asia: +1%

  • Pacific: +1%

  • India, Middle East, and Africa: +3%

Globally, pricing changes for the four major product lines were as follows:

  • Property insurance: +7%

  • Casualty insurance: +3%

  • Financial and professional lines insurance: -6% 

  • Cyber insurance: -2%

We invite you to read the full Global Insurance Market Index Third Quarter 2023. (Download below.) If you would like more information about pricing or other risk and insurance issues, please reach out to your Marsh representative.

*Note: It is important to note that reported pricing changes are averages and that the data used to estimate the changes cover a wide range of clients in terms of size, industry, location, claims history, and other parameters. Many clients received pricing changes that deviated from the average, some higher and some lower. For ease of reporting, we have rounded all percentages regarding pricing movements to the nearest whole number.

 

 

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