Texas records highest August E&S premium total of $767mn

The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) recorded $767.1mn of surplus lines premium in August, a 6.9 percent increase over the same period last year and the highest August total on record.

The August figure, which is also the seventh largest monthly premium in SLTX’s history, brings the year-to-date total to $6.1bn, up 14.9 percent on the same period last year.

The office reported that several lines demonstrated significant increases over August 2020, led by property multi-peril/package (residential, commercial, and historical codes) coverage’s $21.7mn increase, up 113.9 percent.

Strong growth was also recorded by commercial general liability, up $20.9mn or 25.4 percent, and allied lines (residential, commercial, and historical codes), up $11.2mn or 181.1 percent.

The overall number of transactions dropped 3.5 percent in August to 90,984 compared with August 2020. Year to date, transactions are down 0.7 percent.

In August 2021, 56.8 percent of premium reported was attributed to renewal policies, which accounted for 37.1 percent of the items reported.

Some 38.7 percent of premium, and 27.6 percent of the items, reported was related to new business. The remaining 4.5 percent of the premium, and 35.3 percent of the items, was a result of non-policy transactions such as endorsements, cancellations, audits and instalments.

“Texas surplus lines premiums will continue to trend with the existing hard-market conditions into the fall,” SLTX commented.

The August figures follow May and June this year setting new records for the largest ever monthly figure recorded by SLTX. The following month broke this run but was the largest ever figure for a July.