Texas surplus lines premiums sets new monthly record of $970mn in March

The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) recorded $970.2mn in premium for March, the largest single month reported in the office’s 33-year history, ending a quarter in which premiums were up 10.0 percent over the same period of 2021.

The March 2022 figure was up 10.6 percent over the same month last year. It also exceeded the previous monthly record of $947.5mn set in June 2021 by nearly $23mn.

SLTX in the first three months of the year recorded a total of $2.20bn, a 10.0 percent increase over the first quarter of 2021.

In March 2022 57.3 percent of premium reported was attributed to renewal policies, which accounted for 37.2 percent of items reported.

Nearly two-thirds of lines experienced growth over March 2021. The largest dollar increase came in fire/allied lines (residential, commercial, and historical codes) which rose $28.2mn, or 10.6 percent.

In addition, property multi-peril/package (residential, commercial, and historical codes) was up $20.3mn, or 55.2 percent, and contingency liability (new and historical codes) business was up $17.0mn, 138.2 percent.

Some 38.3 percent of premiums reported and 29.3 percent of items were related to new business, and 4.4 percent of premium and 33.5 percent of items were from non-policy transactions such as endorsements, cancellations, audits and installments.

March also recorded a record in overall transactions, with 103,462 items. This was up 4.8 percent over March 2021. Policies filed were up 5.9 percent over March 2021 to 68,754, while average premium per item of $9,378 was up 5.5 percent.

The record figures out of SLTX are further evidence of the continued burgeoning of the E&S market.

US surplus lines stamping offices reported $51bn in surplus lines premium in 2021, up 22.3 percent compared with the previous year, according to figures released by the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association.

A number of new E&S units have also been formed in recent years, including two already this month.

Old Republic International Corporation yesterday announced it had formed a new commercial E&S subsidiary. In addition, last week AM Best assigned an A (Excellent) rating to Federated Mutual Insurance Company’s new E&S carrier.