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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLDWICK - NOVEMBER 12, 2020 08:19 AM (EST)
The COVID-19 pandemic is creating varying levels of disruption for writers in each of the lines that make up the U.S. professional liability insurance market, with many expecting a sizable increase in claims, according to a new AM Best report.
With its Best’s Special Report, “Professional Liability Insurers Navigate Uncertain Terrain Amid a Pandemic,” in conjunction with the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), AM Best surveyed PLUS members on the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on individual lines. These lines of business are directors and officers liability (D&O); errors and omissions liability (E&O); medical professional liability (MPL); employment practices liability (EPL); and cyber liability.
“Even before the pandemic, professional liability insurers were reporting varying degrees of market pressure, capacity limitations, changing risk profiles and price increases,” said Sridhar Manyem, director of industry research, AM Best. “COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns, travel bans and event cancellations, as well as the economic turbulence, have put considerable added pressure on professional liability insurers.”
Shortly after the pandemic surge in the United States, AM Best placed a negative market segment outlook on the professional liability insurance segment, which wrote approximately $35.8 billion in direct premium in 2019 using the sum of other liability (claims-made) and medical professional liability lines direct premium totals as a proxy for professional liability.
Results from the survey include:
To access the full copy of this special report, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=302994 .
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City.