Total cost of risk down in 2015, RIMS survey shows

Declines in property and liability costs as well as overall risk management costs meant that businesses paid 2% less in 2015 than they did in 2014 to cover the total cost of risk, according to the 2016 RIMS Benchmark Survey released Thursday.

The survey, which the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. produces annually with Advisen Ltd., defines “total cost of risk” as the cost of insurance plus the costs of the losses that are retained and the administrative costs of the risk management department.

But the survey noted that the 2% drop in total cost of risk was tempered by increases in some categories, led by a 25% increase in professional liability costs, with management liability and workers compensation costs also rising slightly, said RIMS in a statement announcing the survey.

The survey also found that decreases in the cost of insurance premiums have stopped, showing flat overall premiums at renewal from 2014 to 2015 across most sizes of business and categories of insurance.

The survey also found that cyber and transactional insurance emerged as growing niche areas, with Advisen predicting that the cyber sector could double in size to $5 billion by 2020, said RIMS. The survey noted that the total cost of cyber risk for survey respondents was 38 cents per $1,000 in revenue.