2024 marked the 7th straight year of double-digit growth for the U.S. excess and surplus lines market, but the to
p 25 players no longer command 70 percent of the pie, according to a new report.
AM Best’s latest report on the E&S segment, “Market Need for
Specialized Expertise Propels U.S. Surplus Lines Market,” part of an
annual series commissioned by the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance
Association (WSIA) Education Foundation since 1994, found that 30 years later, direct E&S premiums written by th
e top 25 groups and Lloyd’s accounted for roughly two-thirds of the $129.8 billion total.
For much of the past three decades, the top 25 surplus lines groups, combined with the syndicates comprisi
ng the Lloyd’s market, have accounted for more than 70-80 percent of the surplus lines market direct premiums written, AM Best reported.
Excluding $20.8 billion of E&S premium from the Lloyd’s market, the 25 groups accounted for less than half (49.7 per
cent) of surplus lines premium, down from 51.3 percent in 2023 and 53.5 percent in 2022.
“This declining concentration at the top of the market reveals the impact new market entrants and companies
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with expanded surplus lines-focused strategies have had on the spread of surplus lines premium as these insurers gain tra
ction in the market,” David Blades, associate director, said in a media statement about the report.
“The 2018 to 2024 period of double-digit growth in the surplu
s lines market has yielded conditions that attracted new capital to the market and incentivized establishe
d surplus lines companies to pursue additional avenues to grow their books of business,” the report says, while n
oting that overall market growth in 2024 was lower than 2023—12.3 percent in 2024 vs. 17.4 percent.
Evolving appetites and acquisitions changed the rankings of top 25 U.S. surplus lines groups in 2024, with more ch
anges likely to come when AM Best reports 2025 results next year.
The biggest mover among the top 25 in 2024 was MS&AD Insurance Gro
up, now ranked at the 11th with direct E&S premiums of over $2.0 billion—more than doubling in both 2023 and 2024.