Skip to main content
Marsh logo

Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability: 2021 Australian Insurance Market Recap Series

2021 Directors and Officers Insurance Market Recap and D&O outlook for 2022. Identification of the key drivers of claims activity, plus an expert eye on private D&O, professional indemnity, financial institutions, crime and ESG.

23/03/2022

How times are changing – after a challenging couple of years, it appears there is room for some optimism in the Directors & Officers (D&O) liability insurance market, with pricing moderating further as we head into 2022.

Market recap

Back in our 2020 Market Recap article, we reported that the prevailing conditions at that time were amongst the worst seen in living memory with average premiums rising in excess of 200%, average retention levels increasing by similar amounts and clients finding it exceedingly difficult (and expensive) to procure their expiring programs in a diminishing market. This followed an equally challenging year for the D&O market in 2019. By the fourth quarter of 2020 we finally started to see some moderation. Pleasingly this trend continued throughout 2021 bringing some welcome stability in another pandemic impacted year.

For many clients, this improvement follows three renewal cycles of unprecedented premium rises and the ongoing corrective actions of D&O insurers seeking to remediate their generally loss-making D&O portfolios.

There have been three key drivers to the turnaround in this market: rates and competition, client purchasing powers, and macro factors such as changes to continuous disclosure obligations relating to shareholder class actions and the mooted litigation funding regulations.

Key areas of the Report

Download the official report below for more on the key areas that are driving the market turnaround, plus:

  • An overview of claims activity here in the Pacific and globally
  • A closer look at other classes of financial lines such as private D&O, professional indemnity, financial institutions, and crime
  • The growing influence of ESG considerations
  • The outlook for 2022

REPORT

Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability

2021 Australian Insurance Market Recap Series

Download Report

LCPA 22/045