XL tops solicitors' PI market as total premiums fall

XL Insurance has written the most premium in the solicitors’ professional indemnity (PI) insurance market for the second year running, Insurance Times can reveal.

The insurer racked up £39.4m of premium and secured 16.4% of the market, according to Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) figures for the 2012-13 renewal year. Last year, XL wrote £46.7m, giving it an 18.2% share.

However, overall premiums in the market fell £16.4m, from £255.7m last year to £239.3m this year, reflecting brokers’ and insurers’ concerns about very competitive pricing in the run-up to the renewal period.

The SRA figures show that the unrated insurers secured large amounts of premium and challenged more established players.

The unrated insurers in the market are Balva, Alpha, Enterprise and Elite, which wrote £29.6m of premium in total and secured a 12.3% market share.

The top 10 solicitors’ PI insurers by market share are:

1. XL Insurance, £38.4m (16.4% market share)

2. Travelers Insurance, £26.2m (10.9% market share)

3. QBE International, £26.1m (10.9% market share)

4. Zurich, £21.2m (8.8% market share)

5. Inter Hannover, £20.7m (8.6% market share)

6. Chartis Insurance UK, £19.8m (8.2% market share)

7. Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, £16.7m (6.9% market share)

8. Balva Insurance Company, £16.4m (6.8% market share)

9. Barbican Syndicate 1955, £9,9m (4.1% market share)

10. Aviva Insurance, £7.3m (3% market share)