Insurers reshuffle, pull back from their private equity liability portfolios as claims rise

By Isha Marathe Oct 15 (The Insurer) — As the financial lines market grapples with claims involving private equity transactions and increasingly broad general partnership liability (GPL) wording, some carriers are pulling back, while others are taking a harder look at their exposure, said Westfield Specialty head of financial lines Ray Ash. Speaking to The Insurer at the WSIA Annual Marketplace in San Diego, Ash said some carriers had begun significantly reducing their participation in the market, although the withdrawals had not yet resulted in a material shift in overall capacity. However, insurers are considering whether additional premium adequately compensates them for the exposures they're taking on, or whether adjustments to limits and attachment points might be necessary. “It's starting to shift a little bit,” he said, adding that two to three carriers had taken a different view of the class of business. He declined to identify the insurers and clarified that their pullbacks did not necessarily amount to complete exits from the market. The retrenchment comes as insurers deal with broad GPL policy wording, which Ash said has expanded over the past two decades to encompass ex