Commercial insurance premium rates continue to drop

Commercial insurance rates dropped in the second quarter of 2015, according to The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers' quarterly Commercial P/C Index Survey released Wednesday.

Premium rates decreased an average of 3.3%, with large accounts seeing a 5.2% drop, while medium-sized accounts dipped 3.5%, and small accounts fell 1.3%, according to the report.

Results are consistent with the decreases seen at the end of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 across all account sizes, the report said.

Flood insurance and commercial auto both had upticks in business, but commercial property, general liability and workers compensation were down across all regions, according to the report.

Takeup rates have seen growth, according to 90% of the respondents, along with cyber liability. One Midwest broker explained that take-up rates were increasing partially because “premium savings are driving interest in new lines of coverage and/or higher limits.”

A highlight of the quarter was the number of consolidations that occurred within insurer and broker sectors. There was over $1 trillion in merger and acquisition activity in the U.S. in the first six months of the year, the “highest ever for any nation, as companies take advantage of historic low interest rates and record cash piles to invest in future growth,” said Ken A. Crerar, president and CEO of the Council.