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Excess casualty pricing shifts as loss severity and reinsurance costs persist

Risk & Insurance highlights that underwriting discipline, attachment strategy, and “supported” versus “unsupported” excess are increasingly driving capacity and pricing decisions.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Industry & Deals

Excess casualty insurance has moved past the traditional hard market to soft market cycle framework, with more durable structural factors now shaping pricing and capacity, according to Risk & Insurance. The outlet points to persistent loss severity, social inflation, reinsurance costs, and a greater emphasis on capital efficiency as forces expected to last rather than fade like typical cycle swings.

Nationwide E&S Wholesale’s Dawn Brost said the market’s structure has changed as loss severity, litigation behavior, capital costs, and reinsurance economics shifted in a more durable way. Brost added that pricing is increasingly tied to where an excess layer attaches, how much limit is deployed, the quality of the underlying primary program, and the volatility profile of the business being underwritten.

In turn, Risk & Insurance reports that capacity decisions are becoming more “surgical,” with carriers evaluating class of business, venues, auto exposure, claim history, broker quality, and whether the program structure can support long term profitability. The outlet also describes a sharper split between supported excess and unsupported excess.

Brost warned that if underlying pricing, coverage, or claims posture is not credible, excess markets may reduce capacity, move attachment points, tighten terms, or decline to participate. The piece frames the shift as a need for risk managers and brokers to focus on underwriting discipline, attachment strategy, and portfolio construction to secure coverage at sustainable pricing.

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