New market study, "UK Commercial General Insurance 2010", has been published

Dec. 15, 2010 - PRLog -- This report provides a detailed overview of the UK general insurance market with a specific focus on the commercial lines market. It provides the latest market sizes, profitability ratios, investment returns, competitive developments and analysis of the current distribution landscape along with forecasts for the total market up to 2014.

Features and benefits
Understand the latest developments in the commercial lines market based on Datamonitor's detailed market sizes and forecasts.
Compare how insurers are responding to poor profitability and declining margins.
Identify which commercial lines of business return the highest profits by reading into the 2009 profitability ratios.
Highlights
2009 was a better year for the commercial lines market, which returned to growth and saw an improvement in profitability.

Over the past four years the commercial motor, commercial property, and commercial liability markets have all consistently released reserves. For example, over the period 2006-09 the commercial motor market released a total of GBP1.1bn in reserves in order to improve the reported year results.

The UK commercial general insurance market is expected to grow during each year of the forecast period. There will be slow growth in the liability and commercial property markets during the early stages of the forecast depending on the speed of economic recovery. However, the commercial motor market will exhibit strong growth as prices harden.

Your key questions answered
Are there growth and profits to be made within the commercial lines market?
Are insurers targeting any specific market segment?
Who typically sells commercial insurance?
How are reserve releases affecting the market?
What will happen to commercial motor, property, liability and pecuniary loss markets in the future?

For more information or to purchase this report, go to:
-  http://www.fastmr.com/prod/96201_uk_commercial_general_in...

Partial Table of Contents:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Executive Summary 2
2009 was a much better year for the commercial lines market 2
The commercial insurance market continued to release reserves to bolster results 3
Some insurers are pursuing a strategy of reducing exposure to less profitable business 3
Commercial lines growth will continue over the upcoming years 4
Market Context 11
Introduction 11
Overall market deterioration was less pronounced during 2009 11
The total general insurance market COR remained steady 16
Trading results fell slightly in 2009 22
Lower reserves were released during 2009 24
The commercial lines market returned to growth in 2009 26
Profitability improved in the commercial insurance market in 2009 29
Distribution 35
National brokers account for half of all commercial insurance sold 35
During 2009, the direct channel increased its market share 36
The remainder of the market is made up of bancassurers, agents, and brandassurers 37
Competitive Dynamics 40
Introduction 40
A number of insurers are withdrawing from unprofitable commercial business 40
Nevertheless, half of the top 10 commercial insurers have grown their presence 42
Future Decoded 46
Introduction 46
Growth in the commercial market will continue over the coming years 46
Liability GWP is expected to increase over the coming years 48
The commercial motor market should see a hardening in prices 51
Growth will be slow for commercial property GWP 53
Prices are falling in the commercial pecuniary market as competition intensifies 55
Appendix 57
Definitions 57
Additional data 59
Further reading 65
Ask the analyst 65
Datamonitor consulting 65
Disclaimer 65

TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The total market returned a better COR despite a slight fall in total premiums in 2009 12
Figure 2: In 2009, only the liability line of general insurance grew in terms of premiums 13
Figure 3: ABI members make up 84% of the market 15
Figure 4: Profit margins improved slightly for the total general insurance market in 2009 16
Figure 5: The commercial insurance COR noticeably improved in 2009 18
Figure 6: The property, pecuniary loss, and liability insurance markets all returned lower CORs in 2009 19
Figure 7: Underwriting losses took a turn for the worse in the motor insurance market in 2009 20
Figure 8: Investment income improved during 2009 22
Figure 9: In 2009, reserve releases were below the levels recorded in 2008 24
Figure 10: Insurers operating in the pecuniary loss market bolstered their reserves in 2009 25
Figure 11: Total commercial insurance GWP showed a marginal increase in 2009 27
Figure 12: Almost three quarters of the commercial market is made up of commercial property and liability 28
Figure 13: 2009 was characterized by an improvement in the commercial market COR 29
Figure 14: 2009 was a better underwriting year for the commercial insurance market 30
Figure 15: The commercial property market made substantial releases in 2009 32
Figure 16: ABI members made an underwriting loss in the total commercial market in 2009 34
Figure 17: The distribution landscape for commercial lines saw no significant changes in 2009 38

Full Table of Contents is available at:
-- http://www.fastmr.com/catalog/product.aspx?productid=9620...

About Datamonitor

The Datamonitor Group is a world-leading provider of premium global business information, delivering independent data, analysis and opinion across the Automotive, Consumer Markets, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Logistics & Express, Pharmaceutical & Healthcare, Retail, Technology and Telecoms industries. Datamonitor's market intelligence products and services ensure that you will achieve your desired commercial goals by giving you the insight you need to best respond to your competitive environment.  View more research from Datamonitor at http://www.fastmr.com/catalog/publishers.aspx?pubid=1002

About Fast Market Research

Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. We represent the world's top research publishers and analysts and provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available.

For more information about these or related research reports, please visit our website at http://www.fastmr.com or call us at 1.800.844.8156.

# # #

Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. We represent the world's top research publishers and analysts and provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available.