CIAB REPORTS P/C RATES UP

Through its fourth quarter 2000 Commercial Insurance Market Index, The Council reported commercial property/casualty premium rates across all lines of the business and group medical coverage rose significantly over the last year. The Index also shows rates continuing to climb during the last quarter of the year. Perhaps the most dramatic changes for 2000 were rates for medium and large business accounts. Nearly all brokers responding to the survey saw some price increases for medium accounts. Of those, 78 percent said rates rose more than 10 percent since the previous year. The Index is based on a quarterly survey of The Council’s member firms, who represent the top one percent of agents and brokers in the U.S., and who place more than 80 percent of all commercial insurance premiums. Across the five commercial property/casualty lines—auto, workers’ comp, property, general liability, and umbrella—well over the majority of brokers reported hardened rates.