Excess Casualty Market Trends: 5 Expert Insights on Building Sustainable Towers

Excess casualty has always been shaped by uncertainty. Today, evolving loss trends, emerging exposures and changing litigation environments are influencing how insurers evaluate risk and support excess casualty placements. While capacity remains available across much of the market, brokers and clients are finding that successful placements increasingly depend on early engagement, strong underwriting information and collaboration with insurers that understand the complexities of the risk.

As casualty market conditions continue to evolve, we asked Malin Balasooriya, Vice President, National Accounts Casualty at CNA, to share his perspective on the trends influencing placements today. Our conversation highlighted the importance of proactive planning, transparent communication and building strong partnerships between brokers, clients and insurers to achieve sustainable long-term outcomes.

What are the top 3 trends shaping excess casualty underwriting and influencing placement decisions today?

• Nuclear verdicts and social inflation: Claims costs are increasing at a much faster rate than general inflation due to shifting societal attitudes, larger jury awards, and the growth of litigation funding.  As a result, severity is reaching further into excess towers, with losses arising from a wider range of underlying exposures, including auto, products, construction, transportation, and more.

   

• Emerging hazards and mass-tort potential: Emerging risks such as PFAS, lithium-ion batteries, and rapidly evolving technologies are creating significant uncertainty for casualty insurers. The concern has shifted from isolated claims to the potential for widespread litigation spanning multiple claimants, jurisdictions and policy years. With many of these exposures having an incredibly long tail, understanding the products, materials used, end-use applications and broader exposure profile has become increasingly important.

   

• Loss trends and long-tail exposures: Historical pricing methods and traditional limits and attachment strategies have not kept pace with increasing loss severity, particularly given the long-tail nature of casualty claims. Many claims being resolved today originated in policy years when market conditions, limits and pricing dynamics were significantly different. This creates challenges for insurers seeking to maintain long-term premium stability while continuing to provide meaningful capacity.  Together, these trends make thoughtful underwriting essential in excess layers. Disciplined capacity deployment helps insurers manage volatility and remain a consistent, reliable market for brokers and clients over the long term.

For brokers and clients, the practical implication is clear: early renewal planning and strong underwriting information become increasingly important, particularly where there is US exposure or high-hazard risks.  These exposures often call for a more deliberate approach: engaging the right mix of markets and starting renewal discussions early to build a tower with adequate coverage at a sustainable cost.

How are insurers approaching capacity deployment today, and what is an example of a broker approach that helped place a complex risk?

Insurers are deploying capacity thoughtfully in an effort to maintain a more consistent and stable offering in the marketplace.  With nuclear verdicts continuing to drive severity, many insurers favour line sizes they can sustain through market cycles. Certain industry classes are more prone to high-severity claims, and how a broker manages available pricing and capacity in the marketplace can help smooth the renewal placement. Brokers must keep in mind that building a sustainable tower for complex or high-severity risks requires aligning each insurer’s participation with their severity risk tolerance. One such example is recommending a quota share excess structure on a high-severity exposed risk as this allows carriers to spread their risk over a wider attachment at a more sustainable price point.

What makes an excess tower sustainable, and how can carriers and brokers work together to assemble a strong placement structure?

Building a tower in this market is not difficult. Building a tower that is sustainable, stable and willing to support capacity even after a loss is the challenge. Brokers and carriers can work together to make sure that premium does not become the sole factor in selecting excess carrier partners. Factors such as financial strength, consistency through market cycles and established track records as a reliable partner should carry significant weight in the placement decision. Selecting tower participants that have an interest in moving down to the primary layers can be a great strategic method of maintaining both a strong and competitive placement structure.

What makes a risk attractive to underwriters right now, and what information should brokers include to strengthen a submission and improve placement outcomes?

Comprehensive information regarding risk management practices, supported by a credible loss history, can significantly improve a carrier’s ability to evaluate and prioritize a risk.  A demonstrated commitment to risk management and claims mitigation is a key factor in how we prioritize our risk selection. At CNA, we look for businesses that see insurance as an integral component of their overall risk management philosophy. Early conversations, transparent communication and a clear understanding of the client's objectives allow insurers to provide more meaningful guidance throughout the placement process.

For complex casualty risks, the most effective submissions often include:

• Operations and Exposure Profile: A clear description of the organization's operations, products, services and geographic footprint, including how liability exposures arise across the business.

   

• U.S. and Cross-Border Exposures: Details on U.S. operations, sales, contracts, transportation activities and other cross-border exposures that could materially influence loss severity.

   

• Extended Loss History: Complex risk typically carries a longer tail and an extended loss run (8-10+) years helps illustrate the true track record of performance and can be a key differentiator in evidencing the quality of the insured. 

   

• Risk Management and Loss Control Practices: Evidence of formal risk management, safety, quality control, contractual risk transfer, driver management, product testing, training, proactive awareness of emerging hazards/trends and other controls designed to reduce liability exposures.

   

• Program Structure and Coverage Objectives: The current tower structure, attachment points, limits purchased, incumbent markets and anticipated changes, helping insurers assess capacity deployment and program design needs.

Submissions that address these areas upfront allow underwriters to focus on structure and terms rather than information gathering.

Client meetings are an effective way for organizations to communicate their risk management philosophy directly, while enabling carriers to build relationships and gain a deeper understanding of the client's priorities and objectives for the placement. This helps ensure our proposed solution aligns with the client's needs and supports the best possible placement outcome.

Why does starting renewal conversations earlier change the outcome, and what information should brokers bring to the table/what questions should they be asking their clients, to set themselves up for a smoother placement?

Early engagement is particularly valuable where there are significant U.S. exposures, emerging hazards, complex product exposures or operational changes, as these factors often require additional underwriting dialogue and market education. Where there are concerns with the incumbent program or the client is seeking changes to structure, coverage, or capacity, starting early allows sufficient time to evaluate alternatives, market the risk effectively and ensure a smooth transition if changes are ultimately required. This gives clients access to the full range of options available in today’s market.
 

The information brokers bring to the table should reflect both the client's renewal objectives and any material developments since the prior term. If the risk profile remains largely unchanged, discussions should focus on priorities such as maintaining tower stability, preserving coverage, improving pricing or securing additional capacity. Where there have been operational changes, loss activity or new exposures, brokers should be prepared to explain what has changed, what has been learned, and what actions have been taken to mitigate the risk. Providing a clear narrative around both the client's objectives and risk profile helps underwriters make more informed decisions and can ultimately lead to better placement outcomes.

Is your excess program built for today’s market?

Use this checklist to evaluate your excess program before renewal. If any questions are difficult to answer or highlight new concerns, consider discussing them well in advance of renewal.

• Do your current limits and attachment points still reflect today’s claim severity?
• Could a significant loss affect capacity within the tower?
• Were financial strength and long-term consistency weighed alongside premium when you selected tower participants?
• If your client has a catastrophic liability loss tomorrow, where would it most likely come from?
• What products, materials or operations could lead to a multi-plaintiff or mass-tort scenario?
• Have recent client conversations identified emerging exposures, such as PFAS, lithium-ion batteries or growing U.S. operations?
• Have there been incidents, near misses, regulatory investigations or product complaints that are not fully reflected in the loss runs?
• Have you recently talked to your client about their long-term goals for the program, beyond the upcoming renewal?

In today’s casualty environment, successful placements are no longer measured solely by whether a tower can be completed. The greater challenge is building a structure that remains stable through changing market conditions, loss activity and evolving exposures. Brokers who engage early, understand their client’s risk profile and focus on long-term market partnerships will be better positioned to create sustainable programs that withstand future uncertainty.