Category Archives: D&0

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D&O Liability and Climate Change

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With climate change increasingly becoming a hot-button issue in courtrooms and among regulators, the risk that directors and officers may become the targets of  lawsuits based on their companies’ climate change-related disclosures is becoming more likely. In an online-exclusive article for Risk Management, attorneys William Passannante and Alex Hardiman of Anderson, Kill & Olick examine this issue and offer some insight into how companies should respond to this growing threat.

The increased regulatory activity and private litigation activity surrounding the climate change issue suggests future increased liabilities. While the treatment of liability for climate change related issues by the courts and governmental entities is in an early stage of evolution, the liability and regulatory machinery are grinding forward. Ensuring that corporate indemnities and insurance are in place to respond is an important step.

For more on this emerging risk, read the complete article, only on RMmagazine.com.

Soft Market Far From Over: RIMS

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According to the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s (RIMS) annual benchmark survey, commercial insurance pricing changed very little in the fourth quarter of 2010. The report, administered by Advisen Ltd, found that general liability, property and workers comp policies renewed with hardly any change in premium, on average. According to a press release issued today by RIMS:

“We have seen more carriers exercising underwriting discipline – walking away from business that does not meet their pricing targets – but it is still a very competitive market,” says Robert Cartwright, loss prevention manager for Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. and a member of the RIMS board of directors. “Premiums have stabilized a bit over the past couple of quarters, but they still are far below 2003-2004 levels. In some lines they are back to where they were during the soft market of the 1990s. It remains a buyer’s market.”

Though most premiums remain unchanged, average D&O premium did make a move. The report states that the average D&O premium fell 4.6%, though larger companies saw a slightly sharper decline while smaller companies saw only a minuscule drop.

In the February issue of Risk Management, our fearless editor in chief, Morgan O’Rourke, tackles the state of the property/casualty market in our annual P/C Market Outlook. Check here February 1st to find out more.

2011 Insurance Renewal Rate Changes by Segment

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Guy Carpenter broke down the typical insurance rate drops — or in the case of Marine & Energy and Credit, Bond & Political Risk, rate increases — companies are seeing so far in 2011.

Insurance buyers should enjoy the reduced premiums now — because the soft market won’t last forever.

Despite the declines, “2010 will prove to be the beginning to the end of a six-year soft market cycle,” MarketScout CEO Richard Kerr said in a statement. “While rates were still down for all of 2010, they did moderate and held steady at smaller reductions in a tight range,” declining 3% to 5%.

“We anticipate slight reductions on competitively marketed placements for the first six months of 2011 and flat renewals for accounts not under market pressure,” Mr. Kerr said. “By year-end 2011, the longest soft market period in the last 70 years will finally come to a close.”

What’s the saying? All things end badly. Otherwise they wouldn’t end.

Get it while the getting’s good.

Does Obama’s 3rd Year Mean Lower D&O Prices?

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Yesterday, Aon released its quarterly D&O pricing index, finding that the average price for $1 million in coverage limits increased 4.9% from the first quarter of 2010 and, more importantly, that D&O pricing decreased 16.4% in the second quarter as compared with the same quarter in 2009. According to the report, this is the largest decrease since the fourth quarter of 2007 and the second consecutive double-digit decrease.

As for D&O securities class action claims activity, Aon found that, for the second quarter of 2010, the average D&O securities class action settlement was $39.87 million (excluding settlements of $1 billion or greater). This is an increase of almost 28% from the preceding three-year average settlement value of $31.18 million.

The report makes an interesting point in terms of mitigating factors for D&O pricing.

We all know that D&O pricing and the stock market are inversely correlated. Meaning, when the stock market goes up, securities class action litigation tends to decrease, and D&O prices go down.

But have you heard of the presidential election year cycle and its effect on the stock market (and thus, D&O pricing)?

The report cites Mark Hulbert, founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest, as saying that, on average, the third year of a presidency is the most bullish of a president’s term. Hulbert researched yearly returns for the Dow back to 1896 (the year the Dow Jones Industrial Average for founded).

Here’s a snapshot of his findings:

Screen shot 2010-09-23 at 1.21.16 PM
Clearly, there is a big spike in the third year versus the others. If this theory holds true, then there may very well be continued downward pressure on D&O rates for at least the next 12 to 24 months, the report states.

In addition, Aon’s D&O Peer Benchmarking report, which was conducted jointly with NASDAQ, outlined six best practices for organizations to follow when looking to purchase or analyze their coverage:

  1. Examine the D&O policy to determine corporate executive indemnification provisions
  2. Question any generic worldwide coverage language in the D&O policy; it may be inadequate
  3. Recognize what triggers a claim under the D&O policy
  4. Scrutinize the limits of the excess policies
  5. Understand how coverage under the D&O policy is affected by the wrongful acts of others
  6. Know how the organization and the directors and officers are protected during a financial crisis

All in all, the information in the report bodes well for buyers of D&O insurance through the remainder of 2010, as the current soft cycle for D&O underwriting is expected to continue.