MANCHESTER, England—The soft insurance market for most lines of coverage bought by U.K. risk managers looks to continue, a panel of insurers and brokers said at the Assn. of Insurance & Risk Managers annual conference last week.

But a majority of risk managers surveyed by AIRMIC said they believe the soft market may be coming to an end.

Despite a relatively high number of catastrophes in the first half of the year, insurers' balance sheets have not been greatly affected, so the soft market is likely to continue, said Richard Pryce, London-based president of ACE U.K., a unit of ACE Ltd., during a discussion forum at the conference.

Most insurers still are interested in acquiring new business and this likely will fuel a continued soft market, noted Brendan McManus, London-based CEO of Willis U.K. & Ireland, a unit of Willis Group Holdings P.L.C., during the forum.

“We are not seeing any hardening anywhere in the market,” which is good news for buyers, Adrian Colosso, group chief executive of London-based brokerage Heath Lambert Ltd., said during the forum.

Separately, George Davies, head of the risk management practice at Marsh Inc. in London, said the market for most coverage bought by large corporate clients remains soft.

During the past four years, average property rates for Marsh's large-account clients have fallen by almost 24%, while average rates for employer liability coverage declined 26% during the period, he said.

Excess employers liability rates for large U.K. buyers fell 46.6% on average during the past four years, while public liability rates and excess public liability rates fell an average of 25%, Mr. Davies said.

In the first quarter of this year, most large-account clients continued to experience rate reductions, Mr. Davies said. During that period, property rates for Marsh's largest U.K. clients fell an average of 7%. For employers liability, that decrease was 2%. For excess employers liability, the average decrease was 1.5%, he said.

For public liability, rates fell an average of 1.3% in the first quarter, while rates for excess public liability insurance declined an average of 1.6%.

“The trend is beginning to slow, but there are still reductions,” Mr. Davies said.

Risk managers questioned by AIRMIC before the conference, however, said they expect to see higher rates in certain lines.

Of 96 AIRMIC members surveyed in June, 92% said they believe the soft market is ending, said John Hurrell, London-based CEO of AIRMIC.

For property and business interruption coverage, 29% of respondents said they believe rates likely will rise during the coming year compared with 10% who said they believe rates would fall.

For employers liability, a compulsory coverage in the United Kingdom, 34% of respondents said they expect rate increases during the coming year compared with 10% who said they expect rates to fall.

For public liability coverage, 31% of respondents said they expect rates to rise compared with 9% who expect rate decreases.

Sixty-three percent said they expect automobile third-party rates to increase compared with just 3% who expect rates to fall.

For directors and officers liability coverage, 40% of respondents said they expect rates to increase during the coming year while 11% said they expect rates to fall.

And 41% of respondents said they expect rate increases for professional indemnity cover compared with 4% who said they expect rates to decrease.