|
|
 |
|
Viewing report
|
|
|
|
Commercial Insurance for Small Business: Market Assessment 2009
Key Note Publications Ltd, Nov 2009, Pages: 128
Does the recession mean that small firms are leaving the market for commercial insurance? Is commercial insurance profitable, and will it stay profitable? What is happening to premium rates?
This report summarises the number of small businesses in the UK and looks at regional and sectoral differences. It outlines the principles involved in commercial insurance, discusses the types of insurance offered and examines trends between 2004 and 2009, both in the general insurance market as a whole and in the commercial insurance market in particular. Figures are provided for net written premiums, claims and the underwriting result.
The report also looks at the dominant role of brokers in commercial insurance and offers an international perspective on the insurance market. Leading providers of commercial insurance to the UK market are profiled, and Key Note forecasts trends in the market between 2010 and 2014.
The report finds that the small-business sector continues to dominate the commercial insurance market by virtue of its size: still over 4.7 million sole traders, partnerships and small employers. This sector has been increasingly rewarding for commercial insurers since 2004, with many commercial lines reporting positive underwriting results for the first time for some years. Premium rates are beginning to harden, not only in the UK but also globally, and in most lines net written premiums have exceeded outgo.
Part of this is attributable to the benign weather conditions generally experienced in recent years, and part of it to insurers taking great care to raise the quality of underwriting and pare back their expenses, particularly in distribution. Technology has played a major role in cost cutting, as has improved training, partly as a result of regulatory requirements since the industry came under the aegis of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Unfortunately, the financial crisis of 2007 generated recession in 2008 and has had strong effects on the ability of small firms to maintain cash flow in the absence of bank support. This report forecasts that small firms will continue to suffer after the rest of the economy has begun to recover, as a result of poor credit availability and the high number of unemployed or debt-ridden retail customers whose ability to spend has disappeared. This inevitably means that the prospects for commercial insurance for small businesses are blighted in the years from 2009 to 2011.
The authors believe, however, that the economy is being successfully managed to ensure that the recession is less deep than was first thought, and that prosperity will return more quickly to some sectors and some regions than others. The commercial insurer or broker that maintains high standards of underwriting and keeps good capital reserve ratios will find profit in the small-business market by 2012.
Product samples
A sample for this product is available. Please Login/Register to download this sample.
Customers who bought this item also bought
The UK Insurance Market Outlook to 2015
Performance Ratio Benchmarking: Property 2011
Insurance Industry in the United Kingdom - Global Strategic Business Report
Global Insurance Market Outlook to 2015 - Impelled by Strong Growth in Emerging Asia
UK General Insurance Competitor Database 2010
Europe Insurance Market Outlook to 2015 - Driven by Robust Growth in Health Insurace
UK Commercial General Insurance 2011
UK Insurance Market Intelligence: 2011 Edition
Performance Ratio Benchmarking: Liability 2011
UK Travel Insurance 2010
|
|
|
|
