Growth and resilience: An E&S story

Welcome to the latest edition of our flagship analysis programme, Prospective, in which we will look at the vibrant Excess & Surplus lines (E&S) market, one of the most dynamic markets in the insurance industry today.

Through systemic challenges like Covid-19 and the resulting economic downcycle, the rise of social inflation, and the ever-increasing frequency and severity of natural catastrophe events – to name just a few factors – the E&S market has been unwavering on its record growth trajectory.

For 2020, AM Best recorded that US surplus lines direct written premium (DWP) hit a new high of $66.1bn, a 17.4 percent increase from the $56.3bn recorded in 2019 – which was the first year the industry had ever exceeded the $50bn DWP mark.

While established markets within the E&S sector are certainly capturing and making the most of the expansive opportunities in front of them which we will explore in more detail during this programme, the appealing dynamics of the market have not got unnoticed by newer entities and a number of new E&S companies have launched in recent times.

During the 35-minute episode, together with an impressive lineup of contributors, we will be looking into the following:

You will hear from Liberty Mutual Insurance’s Matt Dolan, Markel Specialty’s Sarah Gavlick, Munich Re’s Mike Kerner and Ryan Specialty Group’s Tim Turner.

This month’s episode coincides with WSIA’s Annual Marketplace – the premier wholesale, specialty and surplus lines industry event – taking place in San Diego this week.