Hard times…

Independent insurance broking through “hard” times

The insurance market is characterised as either being “soft” or “hard”.

In a soft market, we see many insurers keenly competing for market share by easing their underwriting acceptance and offering lower premiums. A hard market sees insurer supply reduce, with those remaining demanding tougher policy terms and much higher premiums.

Many factors influence the insurance market cycle. For example, significant and prolonged claims costs might lead to insurer underwriting losses and the hard market characteristics illustrated below:

The fifteen years or so leading up to early 2020 was the longest ever soft market in history, brought to an abrupt end by worldwide flood and storm events, costing insurers and their reinsurers billions, and of course the economic impact of pandemic and its ongoing uncertainty.

Many brokers and business owners may never have experienced a hard insurance market and might be frustrated to see renewal premiums increase sharply, even on claim-free policies and despite many years loyalty to the same insurer. The current hard market is showing no signs of easing, due to ongoing weather event losses, the economic impact of the pandemic and very low interest rates.

DB Wood’s directors and commercial brokers have each successfully guided business clients through changing market cycles for decades. We only work with financially robust insurers and those who will deliver the best support for our clients in terms of cover, value and crucially claims service.

The combination of our vast experience and size of our partner insurer panel means we are perfectly placed to continually review, challenge and negotiate the very best cover and premiums for our clients, whether in hard or soft times.

To find out more, please get in touch with us.