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Underwriters Weigh InTM Survey
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Q5
Industry-wide, do you expect D&O premium rates for mature public companies to go up, stay the same, or go down?
2025 Survey Results:
Two-thirds of underwriters expect D&O premiums to stay the same or go down.
Woodruff Sawyer Commentary
Notably, the percent of carriers that expect rates to go up more than doubled YOY. However, the commentary leads us to believe that renewals in 2026 will be similar compared to the previous year.
Underwriter Comments
They’re already at rock bottom. If additional carriers exit the market, rates will increase.
I don’t see rates going up quite yet—but flat needs to be in play.
I believe any rate adequacy that was achieved during the market correction in 2019–2021 has been fully eroded. This erosion has been amplified by the significant reduction in SIRs (despite rising costs of defense) and the expansion of entity coverage, which has yet to be priced for correctly.
For more mature companies, we’re already seeing stabilization of rates, and I would expect more solidification of stabilization.
The market continues to deal with an oversupply of insurance capacity. The effect is that risk is underpriced. Any attempts to push rate are undercut. Many carriers are in “wait it out” mode, which ensures the market will not change anytime soon.
Premiums for mature, stable, blue chip public companies have been hammered in the current soft market. While some of this is warranted, they are still susceptible to highseverity claims that are tough to underwrite; as such, mid-excess ABC layer premiums in particular are not sustainable. Carriers have and will continue to take the necessary increases here. With that said, primary premiums will be stable with <5% increases.
Flat is good, some of these risks have overcorrected and need rate.
The market still has another 1–2 years of softness ahead. The rate decreases will be smaller, but companies that want to save money will still be able to.
There are too many data points/metrics that show we’ve gone beyond the point of carriers sustaining profitability.
Premium decreases...are where they are due to an oversupply of capacity, not rational risktaking.
Decreases will be slower, possibly flat.