The specific business actions U.S. insurer Nationwide is taking as it looks to address current issues impacting the insurance industry, includes some re-underwriting initiatives within its small commercial and personal lines portfolios, as the carrier works to improve its book overall.
We wrote yesterday that Nationwide was the latest U.S. insurer to take action to mitigate risk and manage some of its portfolios amid a challenging economic environment, the impacts of catastrophic weather events, and inflation.
Reinsurance News now understands that these changes relate to just the small commercial portfolio, and standard and private client personal lines portfolios.
Within small commercial, effective June 26th, the insurer will begin non-renewing monoline auto policies starting with late September effective dates. There will be state nuances based on legal statues or regulations involving monoline business. Effective June 30th, Nationwide will halt new writings for habitational and lessor’s risk countrywide.
These changes concern only small commercial business, so have no impact on middle market, farm, or agribusiness.
Within the standard personal lines business, effective June 14th, pre-quote documentation will be required on auto, property, and powersports, regardless of the original quote date. This applies to the following states: AL, AZ, CA, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, MD, MN, MS, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, WA.
For property, based on risk characteristics, the same applies for the following states: AR, CO, IA, IN, KS, KY, MA, ME, MI, MT, NE, ND, NH, OR, SD, TX, UT, VT, WI, WV, WY.
Reinsurance News understands that throughout the remainder of this year and into next year, standard personal lines will implement several re-underwriting initiatives increasing renewal actions, and in many cases, property inspection requests.
Within the personal lines – private client book, also effective June 14th, the firm will require underwriting review on all new business submissions. In certain states, pre-quote documentation will also be required to help mitigate risk and better manage the portfolio.
