Professional Indemnity Insurance Market – Facts and Figures
The UK Professional Indemnity Insurance Market
Here is a snapshot of the UK professional indemnity insurance market. It includes estimates about the size of the market and some breakdown, product distribution, major insurance companies and examples of larger claims.
- Size of the professional indemnity market
- Example of a major claim
- High risk areas of work
- Product distribution
- Main professions
- Specialist brokers
- Leading insurers
- Main PI centres in the UK
Size of the market
- Estimated premium value of UK professional indemnity insurance market: £ 3.3 billion*
- Estimated number of UK policyholders: 1.5 million
- Growth in the self-employed and freelance markets coupled with improved online product distribution has fuelled a considerable rise in policyholder numbers in the last decade.
- Over 500 different occupation types now purchase professional indemnity insurance. These include the original traditional professions such as solicitors and accountants but also the many other emerging occupations in science and technology.
*source globaldata.com
Claims
An example of a large professional negligence claim in the UK: A negligence claim of £ 1.6 billion was filed in 2013 against a major Accountancy firm. The claim was based on the auditing of a sub-prime lender. It was settled in 2015 just before its high court hearing and the terms of settlement remain confidential.
Main types of high risk work causing professional indemnity insurance claims (excluding medical malpractice)
- Conveyancing (Legal)
- Taxation (Accountancy)
- Investment / mis-selling (Financial Services)
- Valuation (Property)
- Design (Construction)
Product distribution
Distribution is dominated by specialist insurance brokers. Over 85% of all UK professional indemnity premium is placed through insurance brokers.
Distribution of PI insurance online is the fastest growing sector of the market in terms of policy sales. Estimated number of Google searches: 300,000 annual.
Largest professions by estimated open market annual premium
- Construction and Design: £ 600 million
- Solicitors: £ 280 million
- Accountants: £ 140 million
- Surveyors / Property: £ 90 million
- Financial Services: £ 90 million
- Insurance Broking £ 70 million
- Financial Institutions: £ 150 million
- Tech: £ 150 million
These figures don't include medical malpractice insurance.
Examples of insurance brokers who specialise in professional indemnity insurance
- Professional Indemnity Insurance Brokers (PIIB)
- Howden Group
- Aon
- Marsh
- Miller
Major insurers
Largest professional indemnity insurer: Lloyds of London through various Lloyds syndicates.
Other major insurers include:
- American International Group (AIG)
- Allianz Global
- Aviva
- AXA
- Chubb European
- Hiscox Insurance
- Liberty Mutual
- Manchester Underwriting
- Markel International
- Royal and Sun Alliance
- Tokyo Marine HCC
- Travelers Insurance
- Zurich
Top UK cities with an industry recognised professional indemnity insurance market and community
- London
- Bristol
- Edinburgh
This article is intended for information purposes only. However, the information is subject to ongoing change and whilst all care was taken to ensure the accuracy of the article at the time of writing, it may not be updated. © Professional Indemnity Insurance Brokers Ltd