D&O rates expected to moderate into 2024: Woodruff Sawyer

Public companies will continue to see favorable directors and officers insurance pricing in the second half of 2023 and into 2024, but rate declines will moderate, Woodruff Sawyer & Co. said in a report Tuesday.

Some 63% of D&O underwriters predict that rates will stay flat, with another 30% expecting rates to fall, Woodruff Sawyer said in the report.

“Public companies will continue to see savings in 2024 — but on a more moderate basis — compared to the sizable savings achieved in the second half of 2022 and so far in 2023,” the report said.

Some 98% of underwriters also expect self-insured retentions will either stay the same or go down.

In the first half of 2023, 54% of public company policyholders saw a decrease in their self-insured retention, compared with 44% in the second half of 2022, according to the report.

Reduced demand combined with an increase in supply of D&O insurance capital has resulted in lower pricing, Woodruff Sawyer said.

Insurers are also competing with one another on coverage leading to broader coverage for buyers, the report said.