Professional Indemnity Insurance for Architects and Engineers: A Worldwide Review

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Architects and Engineers: A Worldwide Review is a report about the market for and distribution of policies covering liability risks in the architecture, D&B, engineering and surveying categories as it exists in 20 countries: Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; France; Germany; India; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Mexico; the Netherlands; Poland; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; the UK; and the US. For 2011, 2015 and with a forecast for 2019, the study breaks down the market for this type of cover not only by country but also, on a standardised basis between the architecture, D&B, engineering and surveying categories.

In particular, the report quantifies the number, growth in number and segmentation of insurable enterprises and individuals in each country from 2011 to 2015 plus the value, growth and segmentation of the market for professional indemnity insurance for architects and engineers over the same time frame and with a forecast to 2019. The study also identifies affinity schemes for professional indemnity insurance in these fields set up between professional associations with a nationwide remit and brokers or underwriters of this type of cover (based on a survey of over 350 such associations) and discusses other key issues related to the market such as claims experience.

Key findings from the executive summary include:

• the approximate value of the market for professional indemnity insurance for architects and engineers across the 20 countries investigated was USD 3.12 billion in terms of gross written premiums in 2015, thereby accounting for around 87.4% of the worldwide market estimated at USD 3.57 billion;
• in 2015, the market value segmented between USD 1.28 billion (41.0%) to the engineering category, USD 931.1 million (29.8%) to the architecture category and a respective USD 722.7 million (23.1%) and USD 187.9 million (6.0%) to the D&B and surveying categories;
• looking ahead, Finaccord forecasts that premiums for professional indemnity insurance for architects and engineers will rise across the 20 countries to around USD 3.49 billion in 2019, equivalent to a compound annual growth rate of 2.8% in nominal terms and to one of 1.4% in real terms;
• in real terms, it predicts that this growth will be most rapid in India (5.0%), Poland (4.7%) and the US (3.9%) but that the market value will contract in Australia, Brazil, Spain and the UK.