OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has published a new Dashboard Report that discusses pricing trends, market dynamics and key drivers of recent results in the U.S. directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance market.

D&O is a relatively concentrated insurance market segment, with the 10 largest U.S. writers accounting for nearly 70%, or \$4.5 billion in direct written premiums.

D&O insurance results for the industry were largely stable in 2014 with a slight decrease in the direct loss ratio to 49.3% from 49.8% in the prior year. Contributing to the stable loss ratio is a continuation of declining claims and claims costs.

Heightened competition in public company D&O is leading to weaker pricing particularly in excess cover layers. Private entity D&O is still experiencing overall rate increases due to past loss experience.

Favorable loss reserve development trends continue. Statutory data for the Other Liability - Claims Made (OLCM) business segment is a useful proxy for the D&O insurance segment. OLCM loss reserves developed favorably in each of the last five years.