During a KBW insurance conference roundtable in New York, Swift told delegates: “Primary excess umbrella is running firm from a pricing side. And then you can add, obviously, property in there. Anything in the large property excess shared in layer is just running hot.”
Swift continued that the E&S property book is “up 29%, with 25 points of rate.” The Hartford writes about $1bn through the wholesale channel.
One area of concern is public D&O, where pricing has come down to the point that the carrier is looking to reduce exposure. The Hartford started focusing more on private D&O 12 to 18 months ago, Swift said, a trend this publication has reported on.
Its total public D&O book is about $200mn, the CEO said.
Meanwhile, cyber rates, while softening, are still rate adequate. “The rate of increases have come down substantially over the last two quarters, but generally, [we] still feel good about that overall profitability and where that product line is going to,” the executive added.
Cyber represents about $150mn in premium for the Hartford, Connecticut-headquartered carrier.
Ocean marine is a specialty bright spot with single-digit to low double-digit rate increases, while energy and trade credit and political risk are seeing high single-digit gains, Swift said.
