The Betterley Report
Your Independent Guide to Specialty Insurance Products
Welcome to The Betterley Report, our publication devoted to the identification and evaluation of specialty insurance products for commercial insureds. The Reports are uniquely designed to help insurance professionals identify and evaluate the best specialty insurance products available.
The Betterley Report is distributed by International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI) and may be accessed by subscribers on IRMI Online. To purchase a subscription, call IRMI Client Services at (800) 827-4242 or see the package options and pricing on IRMI.com.
We designed our Reports so that key information is readily available, allowing you to evaluate the latest offerings your clients should consider - and how they compare to those of your competitors.
Our Reports are free of advertising, which means that you can be confident in the independence of our evaluation. Betterley Risk Consultants owns and provides content for The Betterley Report.
Each Report evaluates a single specialty insurance product (listed below), and is updated annually. Reports include a discussion of the coverage, the major carriers offering the product, including complete contact information, their market focus (such as types of insureds), coverage features and limitations, and value added services. This information is now provided in one easy to read guide.
- Intellectual Property and Media Liability Insurance Market Survey – 2013 (April 2013)
This issue of The Betterley Report continues our new approach to our review of the insurance products available to protect against Intellectual Property (IP) loss, an interesting and highly-specialized type of coverage. While we find the product fascinating (and apparently so do many of our readers, who identify it as one of their most useful Reports), we have wondered about how effectively we can cover it, as there are just a handful of IP coverage sources worldwide.
Read Excerpt (PDF)
- Technology Errors & Omissions Market Survey – 2013: Rates Fairly Flat, More Carriers, and More Insureds (February 2013)
Technology E&O Insurance Market Survey 2013 has just been published by Betterley Risk Consultants. According to Rick Betterley, author of the Report, the 2013 market trend for rates is flat to a slight move upwards, unlike the trend of general rate increases in most P&C lines. He attributes this to carriers' strong interest in writing Tech E&O and the growing size of the industry it insures.
The Betterley Report reviews 27 leading monoline products available in the U.S. Although some carriers have introduced new policy forms, the coverage has remained fairly stable. Carriers are recognizing the need for Data Breach coverage for the Tech industry and its clients, and have been slowly increasing coverage availability.
In addition, coverage for Media Liability continues to be offered as insureds become more exposed to claims of infringement. Both Data Breach and Media Liability coverages are reviewed in special tables in the Report.
Annual premium volume in the U.S. is very difficult to ascertain, with estimates ranging from $300 million to $3 billion. Betterley suspects it is in the $900 million - $1 billion range. Growth is expected to continue as more and more Tech providers see the merit in buying coverage, especially as their clients require proof of insurance.
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- Employment Practices Liability Insurance Market Survey 2012: Rates Continue To Firm, But Not For All Carriers (December 2012)
Employment Practices Liability Insurance Market Survey 2012 has just been published by Betterley Risk Consultants. According to Rick Betterley, the 2013 market trend for rates is continuing to ease upwards, but there are several carriers that report a plan to hold rates or even reduce them. After a brief period of movement toward rate adequacy, this seems surprising.
The Betterley Report covers 36 leading EPLI monoline products available in the U.S. Although some carriers have introduced new policy forms, the coverage has remained fairly stable. Wage and Hour coverage is still desired but not widely available, although the Report describes Aon's new product for large employers.
Annual premium volume in the U.S. is estimated at $1.6 billion, with an additional $550 million written for insureds based outside of the U.S. Expense control continues to be key for carriers, with further limitations on the ability of insureds to choose their own defense counsel. Private and not-for-profit insureds continue to show interest in Private Company Management Liability products as an source of EPLI (as well as other) coverage.
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- Side A D&O Liability Insurance Market Survey 2012: A Few New Forms, But Otherwise Stable (October 2012)
Read Excerpt (PDF) - Private Company Management Liability Insurance Market Survey – 2012: Increasing Rates Attributable to EPL and D&O Entity Claims (August 2012)
Read Excerpt (PDF) - Cyber/Privacy Insurance Market Survey – 2012: Surprisingly Competitive, as Carriers Seek Market Share (June 2012)
Read Excerpt (PDF)
