Insurance broker and risk advisor, Marsh, a business of Marsh McLennan, has published its Global Insurance Market Index showing a slight increase in global insurance rates in the first quarter of 2024. In Canada, with the exception of auto liability, they say casualty rates declined during the period.

“Rates continued to be relatively consistent, with most regions experiencing small decreases in Q1. This was largely driven by a strengthening of the trend for decreases in financial and professional cyber lines and increasing competition among insurers in the global property market,” they write.

Globally, property insurance rates increased three per cent, casualty lines increased three per cent, financial and professional lines declined seven per cent and cyber rates continued to decline, falling six per cent.

Cyber resilience 

“Insurers are increasingly focused on the strength of organizations’ cybersecurity controls, typically looking for year-over-year improvements in cyber resilience,” they state.

In Canada, property insurance rates rose two per cent. “Increases were mainly driven by risks that were viewed by insurers as lacking focus on engineering and that had poor loss experience and/or critical catastrophe (CAT) exposures, particularly in British Columbia earthquake and U.S. severe convective storms,” the report states, adding that certain classes of business have faced more difficult renewals. 

In Canada 

In Canada, property insurance rates were flat. The report states that competition among insurers accelerated, there was ample capacity and clients were focused on risk improvement. As in earlier quarters, certain classes of business continued to face challenges (recycling, forestry, food and warehousing).

Casualty rate decreased one per cent while auto liability increased “in the low single digits.” Financial and professional lines, meanwhile, declined 10 per cent.

“Underwriters remained concerned about macroeconomic issues, including banking sector challenges, labor shortage, supply chain delays and geopolitical tensions and kept a close eye on companies’ communications with shareholders on these issues,” the report states. It also discusses litigation and the employment practices liability (EPL) market.

In cyber, insurance rates decreased five per cent, “driven by excess layer premium reductions.”

They say new market entrants increased capacity. “Insurer competition in excess layers contributed to the decline.” As underwriters continue to look for improvements in cybersecurity controls, they state, the scope of coverage available also continued to broaden.