STUDY SEES MAJOR INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

A new study released by National Marketing Services finds that executives of major reinsurers and carriers believe terrorism, pricing and capacity are the major challenges currently facing the industry. The new study, Insurance Industry Outlook 2002, is based on telephone interviews with over 300 primary and reinsurance executives. Participants were selected by a random sampling. The 10-15 minute interviews asked executives about the state of the national economy and the insurance industry. Survey questions covered economic indicators, government confidence, terrorism impact and security issues. Specific industry indicators included consumer and investor confidence, ability to write new lines, price increase reactions, predictions for the next 12 months and the impact of current challenges on marketing and planning. Other findings include moderate confidence in the economy with an anticipated increase in investor confidence. Eighty percent of the respondents believe the hard market will continue well into 2003, with premium increases in excess of 20 percent in property lines and somewhat lower increases in commercial auto, liability and workers’ comp.

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