Global Insurance Market Index Q3 | Marsh

The Global Insurance Market Index is Marsh’s proprietary measure of global commercial insurance rate change at renewal and provides insights on the world’s major insurance markets.

Manik Kak, Portfolio Solutions Leader, Marsh – India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA), said, “Across India, Middle East, and Africa, commercial insurance rates fell 2% in the third quarter of 2024, this is after noticing an increase in last quarter which was mainly driven by the natural catastrophe events in region. Capacity and appetite remain strong and growing over the last three quarters. On average, rates decreased in the India and Middle East by 3%. Rates increased by 3% in Africa”.

Other findings include:

• Property insurance rates in region fell 2%, after being down by 1% in Q2 2024. Rates declined in India, Middle East (Saudi Arabia & UAE); however, were stable in Africa. Reduction was mainly driven by the availability of capacity & appetite on non-CAT exposed portfolio while rates on CAT exposed property portfolios remained flat. Areas where insured assets are concentrated in catastrophe zones, as well as those that had recently experienced higher than average rate increases due to recent flooding in Middle East, generally saw above average rate decreases
• Casualty lines rates decreased by 1% regionally, having remained flat in previous quarter, largely driven by stable appetite and growing capacity across the region
• Financial and professional lines rates decreased by 3% regionally which noticed an 8% drop in rates in the previous quarter — third consecutive quarter of declines — with more capacity available in every country / sub-region
• Cyber insurance rates decreased 16% regionally – third quarter of rates decrease – with decreases in Middle East whilst India and Africa saw rates remaining stale. More capacity is seen entering the region which is a positive development for our clients

Increase in competition across casualty, cyber and financial lines products is resulting in more options and competitive rates for clients. Rates for financial and professional lines generally are seeing significant reductions as a result of increased capacity available locally and both in regional hubs of Dubai and London. On the other hand, Property lines which is largest volume in premium saw a decrease in pricing regionally, with a sharp drop in exposure pricing especially in India . Casualty pricing generally remained flat with some countries seeing some softening especially in Middle East. Regionally large and complex insurance programs are often placed and driven through the reinsurance market. Local insurers may have limited capacity or rating requirements and rely on the international reinsurance market for capacity & support.