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Special Section—PLUS 2006 Change is a constant A host of forces affect miscellaneous professional liability risks By Phil Zinkewicz Back in the days of vaudeville, a popular attraction was the “quick change” artist—the actor who could appear before the audience as a Roman soldier in full regalia, then slip behind a screen and seconds later emerge as William Shakespeare. Performing this feat required a great deal of versatility, elasticity and split-second timing; but, more important, quick change required many assistants behind the screen, pulling, tugging, pinning and buttoning. In today’s insurance industry we are seeing any number of “quick changes,” although they appear to be the result of outside forces rather than artistry. But we still have those working behind the scenes ready to pull, tug, pin and button, when called for. At this year’s annual PLUS Conference, one panel discussion on miscellaneous professional liability (MPL) will be titled “Underwriting a Moving Target or Repeat After Me: Change Is Good.” The panel will be moderated by Laura Corogenes, director of underwriting for Specialty Global Insurance Services of Overland Park, Kansas. Panelists will include: John C. Colletti, assistant vice president of CNA’s U.S. Specialty Lines; Ted Doolittle, principal, INTEGRO USA, Ltd.; and Al Fantuzzi, vice president, Allied World Assurance Co. (U.S.), Inc. “This session will provide an overview of the many changes impacting MPL risks—changes including technological advances, regulatory and economic developments, and the globalization of the services sector,” says Corogenes. “We will discuss the evolution of these MPL risks, what exposures they presented five years ago and what exposures they present today, and how they got from ‘there’ to ‘here,’ providing tools that the MPL underwriter or broker can use to manage these risks that refuse to sit still. “In short,” continues Corogenes, “using ‘typical’ risks associated with MPL business—real estate agents, public relations firms, freight forwarders, public records search, interior designers, kosher restaurants, consumer financial consultants—we will look at how those service industries are evolving due to outside forces of change. We will be examining ways underwriters can keep up with and understand the impact of those changes on their risks. We will also talk about the ever-expanding types of service industry risks that fall under the MPL umbrella and the different methods insurers are using to try to manage and organize this rapidly growing sector. We will try to discern which old underwriting methods, tools and philosophies still work and which do not.” Corogenes says that most people working in the miscellaneous professional liability market are generalists. “Most underwriters focus on one area, which means they focus on one regulatory environment,” she says. “MPL underwriters have to deal with multiple regulatory environments that affect multiple types of risk. There are new types of ‘consultants’ emerging in the current economy. And, let’s face it, consultants do what they’re paid to do. That means new consultants will bring on new types of exposures and MPL underwriters have to continually evaluate risks every year.” Moreover, Corogenes says, insurance companies tend to define MPL risks differently. “A broker has to be aware of what’s in a particular underwriter’s ‘bucket.’ Some insurance companies are niche-oriented and so are very specific as to what they consider MPL risks and may tend to put those risks into programs.” Corogenes says her panel discussion format will be less formal than other panels. She wants to get a dialogue going between panel participants and audience members. “I will be moderator and then ask specific questions aimed at our panelists. Then we plan to go to the audience for questions about particular MPL exposures they’ve had to deal with. But the message we want to get across to those in the MPL environment is that they’ve got to be ready at all times for change. They’ve got to realize that every submission is a new submission.” * |
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