NIP Responds to Disaster-Stricken Specialty Property Market

In response to the difficult property insurance marketplace brought about by recent natural disasters, NIP Specialty Brokerage has created a specialty property practice that will focus on coastal properties from Maine to Florida, including the Gulf Coast region.

“We created the property practice to organize the technical expertise and market access to immediately assist our agents and brokers with the placement of coastal risks during this challenging time,” said John Rath, president of NIP Specialty Brokerage. “We know there is going to be a reduced appetite for these risks, so we’ve worked to assemble a number of solutions.”

NIP broker Vince Gatto, formerly of Marsh, has property insurance experience that includes negotiating and servicing of Fortune 500 and 1,000 clients.

“After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as other recent natural disasters, the landscape of the global property insurance marketplace is changing,” Gatto said. “We’re already witnessing price hardening and decreased capacity, which will eventually cause an extended imbalance between demand and supply. The result will be changes in underwriting guidelines, including pricing increases, higher retentions with restricted terms, and non-renewal.”

NIP Specialty Brokerage, partnering with “A” rated carriers, is targeting the following business: condominiums, co-operatives and townhouse communities; restaurants; apartment buildings; builders risk; shopping centers; warehouses; stand alone structures; vacant buildings; hotels, motels and leisure risks, and office buildings.

NIP Specialty Brokerage is a wholesale brokerage operation targeting non-standard commercial risks underwritten by admitted and non-admitted specialty carriers.