Property/casualty (P/C) premium rates fell by an average of 4% in the US last year, according to data from Dallas-based electronic insurance exchange MarketScout. The company said that the year started with a 9% drop in prices, slowly moderating throughout the year. MarketScout CEO Richard Kerr said that reinsurance terms were favourable for insurers in the January 2010 renewals, which meant that premiums were once again likely to be priced aggressively. However, he expected prices to begin increasing again by the end of the year, with the full impact felt in 2011. For December 2009, directors and officers liability remained the only coverage that returned to a "flat" basis for both new and renewal business. Property, general liability and workers' compensation coverages, each of which represents large blocks of premium, continued their rate decreases. Rates for property and general liability were down 4%, while workers' compensation rates decreased 5% in December, the largest decrease of any line of coverage. Inland marine also fell 4%, with umbrella/excess and commercial motor both down 3%.

New York state plans to revive the New York Insurance Exchange in a move to "enhance New York's status as the world's financial centre, stimulating the economy by increasing the flow of capital insurance premiums to New York", Gov David Paterson said on Wednesday. In his annual state of the state address, Gov Patterson said that the exchange would operate like the Lloyd's of London exchange, bringing together buyers and sellers of complex insurance cover. The exchange "will also curtail the unregulated transactions that devastated the global economy", he said. An earlier incarnation of the NYIE was launched in 1980 as a central broking and underwriting market, but it closed within a decade after the industry hit a rough patch. In a conference call following the governor's speech, New York insurance superintendent James Wrynn said that the new exchange would be modeled on Lloyd's but "would not be a New York Lloyd's of London. We would like our own theme and focus". The state's top insurance regulator said that the new NYIE would create thousands of jobs in New York, but provided no timetable for its start-up. "The goal is not to get it up and running quickly", Mr Wrynn said. "The goal is to make sure it fits a need for the industry. When it does get up and running, it will be running for a long time". Mr Wrynn also said that the risk market and technology and capital markets had advanced since the demise of the previous exchange. "Conditions are more favourable for an insurance exchange", he said. He suggested that One Trade Centre, the flagship tower that is under construction on the site of the destroyed Twin Towers, would offer a prime example of the kind of risk to be insured through the new NYIE. Previous insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo started discussion of a revived insurance exchange in July 2008, proposing 2010 as a start-up date. However, plans for a new exchange became a low priority for the department two months later with the near-collapse of AIG and the general financial crisis.

The Third Party Rights Bill, intended to replace the UK's 1930 Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act, is making rapid progress through the legislative system and could well become law before the forthcoming UK general election, according to insurer QBE in its latest Technical Claims Briefing. It has now reached the Committee Stage. The new act, if it becomes law, would transfer the rights to the benefits of a liability policy to the claimant and would allow claimants to pursue a claim through only one set of proceedings, rather than, as is currently the case, having first to establish liability and then to issue separate proceedings against the insurer. The Bill also eliminated the need to restore an insolvent company to the register of companies before proceeding, and makes it possible for claimants to establish the nature and extent of any insurance cover before obtaining judgement, thus making it possible to establish whether it is worthwhile instituting proceedings. Meanwhile, QBE also observed that the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representation) Bill was unlikely to reach the statute books before this year's UK election.

....The p/c division of US government-controlled AIG, has increased underwriting capacity of the global energy property unit of its global marine and energy division to $250m from $200m.