COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – Brokers and insurers are looking to take advantage of continued price hikes in various property/casualty lines through new divisions, new hires, and mergers and acquisitions, executives at several companies said.

The booming excess and surplus lines market is attracting significant interest, with the world’s largest brokers rumored to be preparing to reenter the wholesale broking market.

Other areas of expansion range from affinity business to marine and aviation, executives said at the Insurance Leadership Forum, which is sponsored by the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers and was held earlier this week in Colorado Springs.

In meetings and discussions at the event, there was significant speculation about the rumored desire of Marsh LLC and Aon PLC to reenter the wholesale insurance market, nearly 20 years after they shed their wholesale operations amid concerns over conflict of interests raised by former New York Attorney General – and later Governor – Eliot Spitzer’s broad investigation into the insurance industry.

According to a report by Fitch Ratings Inc. released Wednesday, excess and surplus lines insurance – which is traditionally accessed through wholesale brokers – accounted for about 9% of U.S. property/casualty premium in 2022, compared with a historical average of about 5%.

Speculation centered on Marsh building wholesale capabilities internally and Aon entering the wholesale market via an acquisition of a retail broker with wholesale operations. Neither Marsh nor Aon would comment.

Willis Towers Watson PLC, which also sold its wholesale operations during the Spitzer era, does not have plans to set up a wholesaler, said New York-based Michael Chang, head of corporate risk and broking, North America, at WTW.

“We have never, ever, said we were going to set up a wholesale broker,” Mr. Chang said. “That being said, we reserve the right that, if things change, we will change with the times.”

WTW does have plans to significantly grow its North American business in other ways, he said.

During the meeting, WTW launched a managing general underwriter, Verita CSG Inc., which is headed by former Sompo International Ltd. executive Edward Chiang, who joined in May. The MGU, which is supported by Markel Group Inc., will focus on real estate, hospitality and leisure, financial institutions, and professional services industries, WTW said in a statement Wednesday. The MGU is staffed separately and walled off from WTW's brokerage operations, a spokesman said.

Among other initiatives, WTW is looking to significantly grow its affinity business – where brokers partner with organizations to sell insurance products, such as selling auto insurance through car dealerships.

“It’s sticky business – high retentions, high revenue, high margins,” Mr. Chang said.

In addition to launching the MGU, the brokerage plans to expand its managing general agent business.

“The MGU we are building internally, but the MGA we’ll be buying,” Mr. Chang said.

Among other brokers, CAC Specialty, which was founded in 2019, has seen significant organic growth but may look for additional growth through acquisitions, said Mike Rice, Denver-based CEO of the brokerage.

“We’ll probably have more conversations about that this year than we’ve ever had before,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of dry powder to do some things.”

BRP Group Inc., like several other previously acquisitive brokers, has scaled back its M&As but is looking to grow through other means, said Trevor Baldwin, CEO of the Tampa, Florida-based brokerage.

“We’re largely on the sidelines for M&A right now. The cost of capital has gone up significantly over the past year,” Mr. Baldwin said. “We’re taking the opportunity to be inwardly focused on operational execution.”

BRP has launched four new “centers of excellence” this year: private equity, D&O, cyber and international. “Those products are deeply technical and need dedicated expertise,” Mr. Baldwin said.

In addition, it has launched multiple new products through its MGA platform, including several flood insurance products, he said. “And we’ve got work underway to build out cyber liability, general liability and some new excess solutions as well,” he said.

Insurers are also expanding in various areas.

Zurich Insurance Co. Ltd., which has adjusted its book of commercial insurance over the past few years, will continue to look to grow its middle-market business, said Sierra Signorelli, Zurich-based CEO of commercial insurance.

“We’ve been growing in the double digits in that area,” she said.

The insurer has rebalanced its portfolio with about one-third liability, one-third property, 25% specialty and the remainder is other lines, including crop. Previously, it was much more heavily weighted toward liability lines, Ms. Signorelli said.

Among areas of middle-market expansion, it is growing its cybersecurity capabilities, she said. In August, Zurich bought SpearTip LLC, a St. Louis-based cybersecurity company.

“We have capabilities that are more bespoke for the large corporates, but we were really looking to how do we also deliver in the middle-market space in a more efficient way. SpearTip was an acquisition to support middle-market customers,” Ms. Signorelli said.

Everest Insurance, a unit of Everest Group Ltd., intends to expand in several lines, said Mike Karmilowicz, New York-based president and CEO.

Everest is looking to “lean in” on first-party lines, including property, marine and aviation, and build out its insurance business globally, Mr. Karmilowicz said. Everest hired marine and aviation teams in London last year.