Markel Insurance chief executive officer (CEO) Simon Wilson said the company continued to see opportunities in the US casualty market, but with rates coming under pressure and competition increasing, he stressed that Markel would not lose discipline or follow the market down.
During Markel Group’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call, Wilson noted that opportunities still exist in the U.S. casualty market while warning about current claims trends.
“I would issue a warning because obviously claims trends in the U.S. casualty business are still in what we consider to be low double-digit levels right now, and while we did see very good rate growth over the last year or so, we’re starting to see those rate growth come under some pressure over the last two to three months,” he said.
“Perhaps one reason is that the real estate market has become more competitive and some of these underwriters are now looking for other ways to deploy capital and then enter the casualty market.”
Wilson stressed that Markel “will not follow the decline in the casualty market” and will maintain underwriting discipline.
“It is vital that we focus our casualty portfolio in areas where we are confident that we can generate underwriting profits over the long term.
“But Casualty is a huge lift for the people involved. Being on the front lines of the market, it’s not easy because we’ve had to say no to a lot of agents that we’ve said yes to in the past. But in a lot of ways, the heavy lifting has been done and I’m very happy with the current position of the portfolio,” Wilson said.
He added that one thing Markle will be watching is pricing dynamics, stressing that if competition in U.S. casualties increases significantly, there will be problems in the industry.
“I’m concerned about the many new entrants in the space, MGAs, who are backed by sidecars and private capital, who are very competitive in areas where we know they have caused significant losses in the past and where people may be hurt over the next few years, certainly financially. We will stay out of those games and continue to focus on areas where we know we can perform and bring great value.
“From a retention perspective, everything we’ve done conservatively early on puts us in a good position to start generating the results that we’ve had over the past few quarters. And that’s really where our focus will be in the coming quarters,” Wilson said.
