D&O rate increases slow: Woodruff Sawyer

Directors and officers liability rate hikes continue to decelerate, while new facilities are providing needed capacity and competition, says a report issued Tuesday.

D&O rates peaked during the second quarter of 2020, but have decelerated since then, coming down to 26% during this year’s first half compared with a 38% increase in 2020, according to the report issued by San Francisco-based Woodruff Sawyer & Co., Looking Ahead to 2022, D&O Considerations for the Next Calendar Year.

Excess layer rates continue to outpace primary rates. The median change in primary rates, for instance, was 21% in 2021’s first half, and 26% for excess layers.

The report says there are now eight new entrants domestically, with three in London and one in Bermuda.

The report says while the number of COVID-19-related D&O lawsuits has been significant, “fears of a huge wage of COVID-related litigation have not borne out.” 

It said a trend to watch over the next year is whether there will be a round of supply-chain-disruption lawsuits.

“Companies that set expectations with the market and then underdeliver because of a failed supply chain will likely find themselves in the crosshairs of the plaintiff’s bar,” it said.