Global insurance consulting and technology company WTW found that professional insurance rates fell throughout 2025 and continued to fall at renewal on January 1, 2026, falling more than insurers and brokers had previously expected.
The findings come from WTW’s Specialty Insurance Market Survey (SIMS), which the company uses to track pricing movements in the global specialty insurance market.
WTW explained that the survey represents approximately $250 billion in total written premiums over 10 years, including $45 billion in 2025, and covers specialty insurers operating in excess and surplus markets in London, Bermuda and the United States.
The company noted that SIMS is based entirely on data provided directly by clients of its insurance advisory and technology businesses, rather than broker-sourced information.
According to WTW’s SIMS Insurance Rate Index, the company reported that performance in 2025 has reversed much of the earlier rate increase cycle, returning to levels roughly comparable to 2021, after adjusting for risk exposure trends. WTW also highlighted that 2025 is the first year since 2018 that new business pricing adequacy is lower than renewal pricing adequacy.
WTW said that for renewals and new business signed on January 1, 2026, the data indicates that the insurance rate index will weaken further, falling by 10 percentage points, bringing the situation back to 2020 levels.
Richard Clarkson, global market leader for Specialty Lines at WTW, commented: “Our aim is to provide previously impossible insights into the dynamics of the Specialty Lines market – leveraging market-derived data to provide a consistent view of risk-adjusted rate changes across a wide range of categories and key geographies, consistent with how underwriting teams are organized. Our clients are already using it to validate business plans, compare ratings trends to current years, assess the impact of new and renewal rate adequacy and support the set-aside process.”
WTW reports that for January 1, 2026 renewals, total claims trends are declining for 75% of 42 major categories, compared with 30% for 2024. SIMS incorporates a claims trend adjustment that allows for a more comprehensive assessment of changes in profitability, the company added. On this basis, WTW noted that overall insurance rates fell 5% on a claims trend basis and 8% net of claims trend, which adjusts for inflation in estimated claims costs in excess of observed pricing changes.
The company also pointed to the speed at which market conditions have changed recently, noting that cumulative growth between 2017 and its peak in 2023 was about 45%, with about half of that gain subsequently being eroded over the past two years.
WTW highlighted that the most significant rate reductions occurred in the real estate and energy sectors, followed by the maritime, financial institutions and professional liability sectors. The company linked this to relatively limited catastrophe losses, changing claims frequency and severity patterns, and ongoing geopolitical pressures.
In contrast, WTW reports that the general liability and medical malpractice markets are performing differently than the broader professional market, with continued concerns about social inflation, large jury verdicts and increases in litigation funding. While WTW says this trend is unlikely to continue long-term, it notes that the near-term direction remains unclear.
SIMS provides a consistent framework for tracking rate changes across specialty categories, allowing insurers to compare trends in renewals and new business, WTW said. The depth of segmentation in the survey allows for more detailed benchmarking than typically available, supporting planning, performance monitoring and booking processes, the company added.
WTW describes its insurance consulting and technology business as a global provider of insurance software and consulting services across the property and casualty, life and health markets. The company reports that it has more than 1,700 employees in 35 countries, supporting insurers in areas such as pricing, underwriting, reserving, capital modeling, claims, portfolio management and regulatory reporting.
The company also noted the increasing use of generative and agential artificial intelligence to improve processes and decision-making, with the aim of reducing operational friction and speeding up customer delivery. WTW said that more than 1,000 insurance companies around the world, including major global insurance groups, rely on its services and technology.
SIMS is published twice a year by WTW, with the next update reflecting results for the first half of 2026 and the July update period.
