Nationwide is narrowing its high net worth offering, the first step in a plan to migrate all of its personal lines business to a single operating model and platform, according to a spokesperson.
Market trends are prompting Nationwide to get “more distinct and specific” about niches served as the company allocates resources more efficiently and effectively, a company spokesperson told Best’s News. He said the high net worth underwriting action affects a “very small portion” of Nationwide’s overall personal lines book countrywide.
Carriers and brokers are tweaking a niche that expanded widely about 10 years ago. Hub International Ltd.’s Private Client and Specialty
Program Group LLC recently launched a high net worth excess wildfire program in California.
Local and regional carriers have taken on additional coverage as national homeowners writers exit some business in areas beyond stressed markets in California, Florida and Louisiana, AM Best Senior Financial Analyst Janet Hernandez said recently. Smaller writers are generally steering clear of new high net worth homeowners, said Hernandez, because the high cost of construction and raw materials mean “one loss can hit the bottom line.”
According to W.R. Berkley Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer W. Robert “Rob” Berkley Jr., the potential for higher rates on admitted and nonadmitted business in the high net worth space is creating meaningful openings.
Nationwide calls its offering “private client.” It provides homeowners, automobile, personal collections and excess liability coverage with additional claims benefits, such as a replacement cash-out option, increased living expenses and service line coverage for homeowners.
Last year property/casualty President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Berven said Nationwide is actively managing exposure across the country. That included taking targeted actions in wildfire-prone areas of the West and in hurricane-prone areas along the Gulf and Atlantic coast.
He said some admitted business could move to Nationwide E&S, which offers a wide range of coverages.
California was Nationwide Property & Casualty Group’s largest state in 2022, with $2.85 billion in direct premiums written, according to Best’s Credit Report.
Nationwide P&C’s risk management framework is managed as the enterprise level, the Credit Report said, and the organization has an integrated enterprise-wide risk management framework based on “sound risk governance, clear roles, risk awareness, transparency and informed risk taking.”
Nationwide Group was the eighth-largest writer of homeowners multiperil in the United States in 2022 and the 10th-largest writer of all private-passenger automobile insurance and, based on direct premiums written, according to BestLink.