Presenting the Best Picture of a Commercial Client’s Risk

• June 30, 2026

By Shawn Moynihan

As independent agents enter the second half of 2026, the current state of commercial lines can best be described as a tale of two markets: softening in property, but maintaining discipline and upward rate pressure in casualty.

Consider “Marsh’s Global Insurance Market Index Report,” which indicates that property insurance rates dropped by 10%, compared to an 8% decrease in the prior quarter. At the same time, casualty rates increased 9%.

Tracey Ant, head of middle and large business, The Hartford, says that, broadly speaking, commercial lines pricing is stable but far from uniform. “We continue to see areas in which rates are firming to keep pace with loss cost trends—particularly where inflation, repair costs or litigation pressures remain elevated,” she says.

Overall pricing in commercial lines is account-specific, says Shawn Leonard, head of middle market, Westfield. “Good risks with strong controls, accurate values and a clear story are seeing more options,” he says. “Accounts with poor loss experience, difficult exposures or limited risk management focus are still seeing pressure.”

In the property market, competition is intensifying, thanks in part to favorable treaty reinsurance renewals. Capacity is abundant as underwriters seek to strategically increase market share by pursuing more desirable risks.

“Conditions have clearly softened on the property side,” says Matt Westhoff, president of commercial insurance, QBE North America. “There is strong competition, ample capacity and we’re seeing rate reductions across most segments, particularly in large and layered accounts.”

Well-managed accounts receive more attention and Leonard is seeing more examples of the market moving aggressively to win business, not only through rate adjustments but also by softening terms and conditions.

“Some carriers remain disciplined, but others appear to be pricing below what we believe is an adequate margin for the exposure,” he explains. “That is important because property is still a severity line. Valuation, roof age, maintenance, protection, business continuity, catastrophe exposure and risk quality still matter.”

Ant agrees, adding that, “location, construction, occupancy and risk controls are more important than ever. Where those fundamentals are strong, capacity is more available.”

From the agent’s perspective, property is a market in which pricing pressure is becoming more differentiated by risk quality, geography and coverage structure rather than broadly applied across all accounts, says Elliot Burn, chief actuary, core lines, Verisk.

A Different Story for Casualty

Casualty, meanwhile, “is a very different story,” Westhoff says. The casualty market remains firm, he explains, with continued concerns around loss trends and rate adequacy. “General liability rates are still rising at low double-digit levels, and auto-driven exposures are seeing even greater pressure,” he says.

Severity, not frequency, remains the biggest challenge in commercial auto claims. Burn points out that claim severity for the latest four quarters was up 7% compared with the prior four quarters—and up more than 50% compared with four years ago—underscoring sustained pressure on liability lines.

“Casualty lines, particularly commercial auto, general liability and umbrella and excess, still need rate because loss trends and litigation severity remain elevated,” Leonard says.

For independent insurance agencies, “it’s still a hard market in most lines that matter to our clients,” says Mike Fusco, agency principal at Fusco Orsini & Associates in San Diego. He reports that general liability coverage for contractors remains expensive, and carriers are selective.

Management lines remain consistent, Fusco says, especially in directors & officers. “Workers compensation has held up better than people expected and we’re still finding competitive options, but that can shift fast depending on the class and the loss history,” he says.

Commercial auto “is the roughest spot right now,” he notes. “Frequency and severity are up, and carriers are repricing aggressively or walking away from certain risks entirely.”

Dan Imming, principal of Imming Insurance Agency in Carlyle, Illinois, says “the rate picture in commercial lines seems to be very competitive in that most of our carriers are very eager to write business, and want to provide aggressive pricing.”

At the all-lines, family-owned agency in its 85th year of business, Imming sees some of the most competitive pricing among contractors, restaurants, farms and business owners policies. “Not as many carriers want habitational risks, but we have a few that will still write them,” he adds.

On a practical level, the current conditions in commercial lines dictate that “our clients can’t just shop for price anymore,” Fusco says. “They need to be well underwritten, well documented and presented to the right carriers in the right way. That’s where the value of an independent agent is most evident: You either know how to tell your client’s story to an underwriter, or you don’t.”

Preparing Clients for Their Close-Up

Even as property markets become more competitive, that doesn’t mean underwriting discipline is loosening. Rather, attention is increasingly shifting to the quality and clarity of the risk information provided by agents.

“Carriers are sharpening their focus on accurate property valuation, exposure concentration and location-specific catastrophe risk, particularly as memories of recent large events fade and the industry enters another active tropical season,” Burn says. “For agents, this environment rewards strong data, accurate submissions and proactive risk differentiation.”

For agents, substantial opportunity lies in leveraging a more competitive market without losing sight of long-term stability, Leonard says. “A strong property program should be built around accurate data, appropriate coverage, clear expectations and a carrier partner that will be there for them over the long term,” he says.

Fusco is well aware of the agent’s need to provide value in assessing each commercial client’s ever-changing risk profile. Fusco Orsini & Associates’ commercial book is built around contractors, trades, manufacturers, landscapers and other field service operators.

“For midsize or larger clients, our goal is to take the client on a journey to a best-in-class risk profile and hopefully obtain the lowest costs related to insurance and managing risk.”

“These are owners who work with their hands and run lean operations,” he says. “They don’t have risk managers. They count on us to be that function.”

The strategy, Fusco explains, is simple: “We get to know the business before we ever talk about coverage: what do they build, who do they sub to, what contracts are they signing, what does their loss history look like. That context is what lets us place them right the first time and advocate for them when the market gets tight.”

When it comes to commercial accounts, managing clients proactively is paramount. “We’re not waiting for renewal to have a conversation,” he adds. “If something in the market shifts and affects them, they hear from us first. For smaller clients, some of our touchpoints are automated, but we focus on conversational messaging to maintain the relationship.”

Doug Benz, principal and president of New Buffalo Insurance Agency in Buffalo, New York, believes that the ability to tell a client’s best story to carriers begins with helping the customer develop and maintain top-flight risk management practices. To achieve this, his agency takes a more hands-on approach than most.

Two years ago, Benz had an epiphany. He realized that in many cases, loss-driving behaviors, such as employees crashing company vehicles or workers getting injured on the factory floor, could largely be corrected by skilled human resources professionals.

To this end, Benz co-created a fractional HR business with former labor attorney Elisha Tomasello. TrueBuffalo HR is the agency’s sister company, which launched in February 2025.

“For midsize or larger clients, our goal is to take the client on a journey to a best-in-class risk profile and hopefully obtain the lowest costs related to insurance and managing risk,” Benz explains.

“Most of the time, employers are proceeding in good faith,” Benz says. “So let’s help them keep their house in order to help control their insurance costs.”

The agency is already seeing positive results of this initiative, both on the risk-improvement side and on the revenue front.

“Per client, agents are doing more risk consultancy than ever before,” he notes. “This is a way to provide them a higher level of risk-mitigation service, and you can bill clients appropriately for that expertise. I’d rather charge a customer a fee to help them vastly improve their risk profile and help them sleep at night, versus letting them pay $20,000 more in premium.”

“Do the right thing for the client, and things will always work out,” Benz adds.

Seizing the Opportunity

Right now, independent agents are well positioned in several core commercial lines where underwriting discipline and client advisory really matter, Ant says. “We continue to see opportunities in workers comp, particularly for well-run businesses with strong safety cultures. That’s a line where agents who understand an account’s operations and loss drivers can really differentiate.”

Burn says that opportunities for agents are emerging in areas where market competition is increasing while underwriting remains selective. For example, commercial property—particularly for well-maintained, accurately valued risks—stands out as a line where agents can add value by helping carriers distinguish strong accounts in a more competitive marketplace.

Construction remains a clear area of opportunity, Westhoff says. He notes that this sector continues to benefit from strong underlying demand driven by infrastructure investment, advanced manufacturing, energy transition projects and the rapid expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence (AI)-related infrastructure.

For agents, “this creates opportunities across multiple lines, from property to casualty to specialty coverages,” Westhoff says. “At the same time, construction clients face increasingly complex risks, including labor shortages and rising material costs, all of which make strong advisory support and tailored insurance solutions even more valuable.”

“The contractor and construction space continues to grow as infrastructure spending and residential development remain active in our markets,” Fusco says. Operations that were smaller a few years ago have grown, he explains, taking on larger projects and requiring more sophisticated coverage. “That’s an opportunity to deepen existing relationships and get referrals into the contractor world,” he adds.

Fusco is also seeing significant growth in social services and healthcare, segments in which he says contractual insurance requirements have become much more stringent. “Clients who operate in those spaces are being asked to carry higher limits, broader coverage and tighter compliance documentation than they did just a few years ago,” he says. “That complexity is exactly where an experienced independent agent earns their keep.”

“They need to be well underwritten, well documented and presented to the right carriers in the right way. That’s where the value of an independent agent is most evident: You either know how to tell your client’s story to an underwriter, or you don’t.”

The California-based agency is also seeing strong inbound opportunity from the technology sector, specifically AI startups and emerging tech companies. “That’s a newer segment for us, and the growth has been notable,” Fusco says. “These businesses move fast, they have real exposure, and they often don’t have anyone helping them think through risk in a structured way. We fill that gap.”

Fusco also reports that demand for excess and umbrella is up across the board. “General contractors and project owners are requiring higher limits from their subs,” he notes. “Clients who used to carry $1 million umbrella limits are now being asked for $5 million or more. That creates real work for us, and real value for clients who don’t know how to navigate it.”

In Illinois, Imming has been seeing opportunities in farm and agriculture accounts, as well as strip mall-based lessors risks. Success in placing the latter can vary depending on the occupants. “No [carrier] seems to want tobacco stores, specifically vape stores,” he says.

Imming finds that public sector pricing is still very competitive, but says he’s seeing fewer carriers in that market. Workers comp, he adds, continues to be an aggressively priced market, with carriers willing to write it on a monoline basis.

Overall, independent agents’ best opportunities are with middle-market customers who require expert advice, not just a quote, Leonard says.

“For agents, the opportunity is not limited to one line of business,” he says. “It is in building a broader conversation around the customer’s risk profile. Commercial property, inland marine, auto, general liability, umbrella and workers comp all become part of a larger discussion about protecting the business and helping it succeed.”

“In this environment, the strongest opportunities are with customers who want more than a transaction,” he adds. “They want a partner who can help them manage volatility, improve their risk profile and support the long-term success of their business.”

Explaining Social Inflation to Clients

Social inflation—characterized by a marked rise in claim severity driven by increased legal actions and outsized jury verdicts in insurance claims—continues to contribute to higher rates for clients in select commercial lines, particularly in commercial auto, general liability, umbrella and excess casualty.

“We are seeing a more challenging litigation environment, including greater attorney involvement, litigation funding, more aggressive plaintiff strategies and larger jury awards,” Leonard says. “That creates more uncertainty and more severity in liability claims. For insureds, that means one severe claim can have a much larger financial impact than it may have had in the past.”

“Legal system abuse is very real, and it’s one of the most important forces shaping loss costs in liability lines today,” Ant says.

“Aggressive and pervasive attorney advertising and funding support by outside third parties has skewed our legal system,” she continues. “As a result, a combination of extended litigation, broader liability assertions, litigation risk-taking and higher jury awards is showing up most clearly in casualty-exposed lines like commercial auto, general liability and umbrella.”

The challenge lies in explaining to clients the impact social inflation has on their rates in select commercial lines. Agents would do well to keep those conversations practical. “The message should not be, ‘Your rate is up because insurance companies want more premium,’” Leonard says. “The better message is, ‘Your liability exposure is being priced in a legal environment where the cost of a severe claim has changed.’”

“Agents can help clients understand the issue by using real-world implications,” says Ant. “For example, higher settlement values, longer claim durations, rising defense costs, and more uncertainty in outcomes feeds into pricing, limits and capacity.”

Burn says that factors such as third-party litigation funding and longer claim-settlement cycles are contributing to higher ultimate losses, which insurers must account for in pricing. “Framing social inflation as a structural shift—not a short-term anomaly—can help set realistic expectations around coverage costs and limits selection,” he says.

According to Westhoff, the best way to explain the effect of social inflation to clients is to keep the message simple and consistent. “This is not an account-specific issue,” he says. “It is an industrywide trend affecting companies across sectors. Framing it as a systemic shift in the legal environment helps clients better understand why pricing and terms may be changing, particularly in liability lines.”

Commercial Lines to Watch

As the year progresses, carrier executives are keeping a close eye on the casualty side and advising independent agents to do the same.

“The lines to watch most closely are those where loss cost trends continue to outpace expectations, particularly in commercial auto, umbrella and other excess liability,” Ant says.

“We expect continued upward pressure in general liability, particularly in segments with auto exposure, where larger losses continue to drive results,” Westhoff agrees. Additionally, he sees pockets of emerging pressure in workers comp in certain classes and geographies.

While the current property market remains competitive, “there are early signs that pricing discipline will become a bigger focus over time,” he adds.

Leonard says that he, too, is keeping an eye on property, especially in catastrophe-exposed areas. “The broader property market is more competitive today, but weather activity and catastrophe losses can change conditions quickly,” he says.

The key takeaway from the market at the moment is that rate direction will likely continue to vary by line, geography and risk profile, Burn says. “Staying focused on data quality, exposure clarity and client education will be critical as insurers balance competition with long-term profitability,” he says.

Overall, the commercial lines market is giving strong accounts more options and rewarding quality risks. Clients with mindfully ingrained loss controls, good data and a proactive approach to risk management will find themselves in the best position.

“A strong agent-carrier-client relationship is not just about placing the coverage,” Leonard adds. “It is about helping the business become a better risk over time.”

Shawn Moynihan is associate at Aartrijk.