Australia-based international brokerage Honan Insurance Group (Honan) has published its latest quarterly market update for the third quarter of 2022 (Q3 FY22), focusing on four sectors.
Honan’s quarterly market update forecasts insurance trends and business implications in the quarter ahead across the corporate, financial lines, employee benefits, and workers’ compensation.
In the corporate sector, Poppy Foxton, national head of corporate insurance & risk solutions at Honan, expects insurers to continue reducing their exposure in flood-prone areas through increased deductibles, annual aggregated limits, or excluding cover altogether as they continue to receive an influx of claims from the catastrophic flooding in southeast Queensland and New South Wales (NSW).
Focusing on the financial lines sector, Henry Clark, head of professional & executive risks, said directors and officers (D&O) are now facing greater regulatory oversight to disclose cyber security issues due to increased cyber risk rates – reflecting the results of a 2022 survey from WTW and Clyde & Co that identified cyber-related issues as the top D&O risks this year.
In addition, a major global carrier’s decision to withdraw from certain occupations in the professional indemnity insurance market is expected to further tighten already underserved sectors, including Australian Financial Services Licence holders, financial planners, construction professionals, and lawyers.
Regarding employee benefits, Alexandra Slimming, head of global benefits, and Shabab Maqsud, head of client service – global benefits, continue to see organisations investing in their employees’ health and wellbeing, with private health insurance forming part of the core benefits offering.
Moreover, as life returns to “living with COVID” normality in Australia, Slimming and Maqsud noticed that employees are now accessing more preventative services, such as dental, physiotherapy, and chiropractic care.
For workers’ compensation, Sharon Rutherford, head of risk consulting at Honan, noted more discussions around the adoption of the revised Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Bill.
“Debate, for instance, includes the definition of a ‘worker’ when it comes to the commencement of benefits for pending claims. Of greatest potential impact to insureds, is the removal of Principles Indemnity with Waiver of Subrogation. For businesses and their employees, this may result in complexities upon contractual engagements and increased exposure for the principal as an insured party,” Rutherford said.
You can find the rest of the forecasts on Honan’s website.
