Continued softening of property insurance pricing drove a decline in global insurance rates during the first quarter of the year, according to a report by Marsh L.L.C.

The first-quarter decline in the Marsh Risk Management Global Insurance Index was its fourth straight quarterly drop globally, putting it at its lowest level since the third quarter of 2012, New York-based Marsh said in the report released Monday.

The first quarter of this year was the first time since the second quarter of 2012 in which U.S. rates declined, Marsh said.

“Falling property insurance rates were a familiar story globally in the first quarter thanks to ample capacity and a scarcity of major events,” the brokerage said in the report. Property rates dropped 2.5% on renewal in the United States, 5% in the United Kingdom and 7.6% in Latin America, Marsh said.

Property rate reductions of up to 20% were common among Asia-Pacific accounts, Marsh said, nearing 25% in some cases depending on the size of the risk.

On the casualty side of the market, softening was more moderate, with decreases in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the United Kingdom as well as slight increases in continental Europe and the United States.

In the U.S., general liability and workers compensation rates typically ranged from flat to single-digit increases, Marsh said.

Automobile liability averaged single digit increases with larger increases for accounts with adverse loss experience and excess casualty rate increases were in the low single digits.

Financial and professional lines were stable and generally flat across all regions compared with prior periods, the report said.

%%BREAK%%

Marsh found that U.S. general liability insurers are beginning to impose cyber exclusions on policies, with excess insurers also looking more closely at cyber risks and asking buyers for more detailed underwriting information. Marsh said the percentage of its U.S. clients purchasing stand-alone cyber insurance increased 21% in 2013 from a year earlier.

The Marsh Global Insurance Market Quarterly Briefing can be found

here.