Global insurance rates increase 4% in Q4: Marsh

Global commercial insurance pricing rose 4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with 6% in the prior quarter, according to the Marsh Global Insurance Market Index, released Thursday by the brokerage.

The fourth quarter was the 21st consecutive quarter in which composite pricing rose, the longest run of increases since the index began in 2012, according to the Marsh report.

The overall pace of pricing increases slowed for the eighth consecutive quarter, however. Commercial insurance pricing increases peaked at 22% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The quarter’s pricing moderation was driven largely by a 6% decrease in financial and professional lines and the continued moderation in cyber pricing, according to Marsh.

For the second consecutive quarter, overall pricing in financial and professional lines fell, driven by further rate reductions in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Average pricing in this sector declined by 6% in the fourth quarter compared with 1% in the third quarter.

Cyber insurance pricing increases also slowed, to 28% in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with 53% in the third quarter. Cyber insurance commercial pricing increases in the U.S. moderated to 28%, from 48% in the third quarter, and in the U.K. to 34%, from 66% in the third quarter, the report said.

Global property insurance pricing was up 7% on average in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with a 6% increase in the previous quarter. Casualty pricing was up 3% on average, compared with 4% in the third quarter.

In the U.S., property insurance pricing increased by 11% in the fourth quarter, up from 8% in the third quarter, marking the 21st consecutive quarter of rising property pricing. Total insured values increased by 10%, on average, in the fourth quarter.

The U.S. property increases were driven by reinsurance markets, Marsh said. “The pricing increases experienced by clients were largely driven by challenges in the reinsurance market leading up to the January 1 treaty renewals.”