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More capacity, fiercer competition: the E&S battle begins
As capacity returns and competition intensifies, E&S players are being forced to sharpen their game
Brady Kelley
WSIA
Industry experts
David Duran
Wholesure
Sara Gundersen
Sompo
Shanna Sweeney
Upland Specialty Insurance
Brady Kelley has served as WSIA’s CEO & president since 2017 and served in the same role at NAPSLO from 2011–2017. He is responsible for the overall management of the association’s staff support activities, service to members, and business operations. Prior to joining WSIA, Kelley was the chief financial and business strategy officer for the NAIC. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he received a BS in accountancy from the College of Business and Public Administration, and he earned the Certified Public Accountant designation.
WSIA
Brady Kelley
David Duran is a senior casualty broker at Wholesure, bringing nearly 18 years of experience in the wholesale insurance industry. He specializes in structuring complex casualty programs, including primary general liability and excess liability placements for construction, real estate, hospitality, and manufacturing risks. Known for his analytical approach and collaborative style, Duran partners with retail brokers and underwriters to develop creative solutions for complex casualty challenges. He is dedicated to building long-term relationships and helping clients navigate today’s evolving casualty marketplace.
Wholesure
David Duran
Sara Gundersen was appointed executive vice president, E&S casualty at Sompo in January 2024. In this role, she leads excess & surplus casualty with a focus on strategic growth and underwriting excellence. Gundersen joined Sompo from Chubb, where she served as vice president of underwriting. Since joining Sompo in 2018, she has held several senior leadership roles. She served as senior vice president for financial institutions & professional services, and was later appointed executive vice president and US Asian risk solutions leader, where she was responsible for driving profitable growth across property & casualty lines for US operations of Asian-owned companies. Gundersen holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Union College.
Sompo
Sara Gundersen
Shanna Sweeney has over a decade of experience in managing excess casualty and excess construction as well as casualty facultative reinsurance underwriting. She is also a founder of Women of Wholesale, a professional association with a mission to celebrate and develop women in the wholesale insurance industry with equal emphasis on making a difference in our local communities. She is a subject matter expert in underwriting risks for manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality and restaurants, construction practice policy, as well as commercial real estate.
Upland Specialty Insurance
Shanna Sweeney
“For women, representation can’t stop at recruiting. We need sponsorship. Mentorship is valuable, but sponsorship is what puts someone’s name forward for that opportunity to change a career path”
Shanna Sweeney,
Upland Specialty Insurance
US surplus lines premium reached $129.8 billion in 2024, while the 15 states with surplus lines stamping offices subsequently reported premium growth of approximately 8 percent in 2025. However, behind that continued growth, the market is shifting. E&S competition is increasing while capacity is returning – meaning hungry carriers and wholesale brokers are having to think carefully about where the strongest opportunities lie.
A recent roundtable, hosted by Insurance Business, brought together five industry leaders to discuss those changing market dynamics, what clients are really looking for from their partners, and what the future holds for E&S in the months and years to come.
“Specific to casualty lines in 2025, those offices reported growth of just under 12 percent in non-professional liability coverages last year,” prefaced Brady Kelley, CEO & president at WSIA. “That’s the largest E&S line representing about 38 percent of stamping office premium – and they noted a 5.1 percent growth in professional liability lines such as D&O, E&O, and MedMal, that being the third-largest E&S line at 9.2 percent of total surplus lines premium.
“Halfway through 2026, we are seeing pockets of softening emerging. Markets remain disciplined overall, but competition is growing as carriers lean into the casualty space”
Sara Gundersen, Sompo
“Complex casualty business isn’t won by simply having access to markets anymore. It’s won by understanding the risk, understanding the exposure, and then telling the story behind the risk”
David Duran,
Wholesure
“We expanded our outreach through our Talent Advocacy and Engagement Foundation. [It now includes] non-RMI programs, HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions to reach a broader base of students”
Brady Kelley,
WSIA
Read on
Upland Capital Group, Inc. is an AM Best A- (Excellent) rated specialty property and casualty insurer based in Dallas, Texas. Through its wholly owned insurance carrier, Upland Specialty Insurance Company, the company markets, underwrites, and services specialty insurance products in select markets, including excess transportation, construction casualty, excess casualty, primary general liability, excess public entity, professional liability errors and omissions, excess cyber liability, and product recall.
Wholesure is one of the largest groups of wholesalers, binding authorities and MGAs in North America. We bring speed, expertise, and personal service enabled by tech. We serve P&C, Specialty, Life, and Employee Benefits with broad market access. Our agency portal offers retailers access to exclusive rating tools, direct market access for instant binding, and traditional account submissions. The platform generates more than 2,000 opportunities each day and connects carriers with over 40,000 retail agencies representing more than 100,000 users. Through its growing digital marketplace, Wholesure supports nearly $300 million in written digital premium while helping carriers and retailers transact more efficiently.
We are Sompo, a global provider of commercial and consumer property, casualty, and specialty insurance and reinsurance. Building on the 138 years of innovation of our parent company, Sompo Holdings, Inc., Sompo employs approximately 10,000 people around the world who use their in-depth knowledge and expertise to help simplify and resolve your complex challenges. Because when you choose Sompo, you choose The Ease of Expertise™.
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Published Oct 12, 2026
Travis Dean
Westfield Specialty
Travis Dean is vice president, excess casualty at Westfield Specialty, where he oversees a diverse portfolio of excess casualty business. With experience spanning reinsurance and specialty insurance, Dean has built deep expertise in construction, transportation, habitational, and project-specific risks. Prior to joining Westfield Specialty, he held underwriting roles at Sompo, AXA XL, and Gen Re. Known for his disciplined leadership style, strong industry relationships, and technical underwriting knowledge, Dean is passionate about mentorship and helping develop the next generation of insurance professionals and industry leaders.
Westfield Specialty
Travis Dean
“It’s important to be creative and customize solutions for our clients. I think with the E&S business, we have freedom of rate and form, which allows us to respond to these challenges with creativity”
Travis Dean, Westfield Specialty
The Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association is the non-profit association of professionals and specialty market leaders dedicated to the wholesale distribution system. WSIA represents the interests of its members and the valuable role they play in the insurance market through networking, education, talent recruitment and development, regulatory and legislative advocacy for the wholesale, specialty and surplus lines industry, and by promoting the value of the wholesale distribution channel.
Westfield Specialty delivers strategic, creative coverage solutions designed to help protect businesses, mitigate risk, and assist in driving growth for clients. Our team works collaboratively with brokers and clients to structure coverage that reflects the realities of today’s risk environment across the US, Europe, the London market, and MENA. We combine global reach with on-the-ground insight through our US, London, Dubai, and Luxembourg offices, alongside Lloyd’s Syndicate 1200 and our Luxembourg-based European company platform. As we expand our specialty insurance and reinsurance capabilities and appetites, we remain focused on delivering thoughtful, responsive solutions built for an evolving risk landscape.
“The future of our industry really depends on transferring judgment, not just knowledge,” she told IB. “We need to preserve technical knowledge as our experienced professionals are retiring – and that means we need to do better about creating structured opportunities to transfer judgement and not just procedures to the next generation.”
‘We need sponsorship’: championing women in insurance For women in insurance, meanwhile, the issue is increasingly not simply entry into the profession but also progression within it. Sweeney told IB that women account for around 60 percent of the insurance workforce but less than 25 percent of executive officers.
“For women, representation can’t stop at recruiting. We need sponsorship. Mentorship is valuable, but sponsorship is what puts someone’s name forward for that opportunity to change a career path.
“There are some really great industry organizations and employee networks that help create relationships outside an individual’s company – and I encourage women to seek those out. Those relationships help build confidence and production networks; they give you access to leadership in a business that still remains highly relationship-driven. I often say, if we want to like our jobs in 15 or 25 years from now, we have to keep investing in the next generation. And that starts with us.”
“Those were slightly stronger than the growth rates we saw from 2023 to 2024. And when you add those lines to the property line, that’s [approximately] 80 percent of the E&S market written in those 15 states, all of which grew again in 2025. Those results continue to reflect our market’s strength, stability, and ability to provide solutions for complex risks.”
With an optimistic outlook, the sector is expected to continue to grow and thrive through the months ahead. Sara Gundersen, EVP, E&S casualty at Sompo, agreed, telling IB that they’ve seen submissions increase year over year to the tune of 20 percent or more.
“Halfway through 2026, we are seeing pockets of softening emerging,” she added. “Markets remain disciplined overall, but competition is growing as carriers lean into the casualty space.”
Underwriting discipline is as important as ever It’s a thriving and competitive market right now, with 2026 marking a transition from the hard market of 2020–2024, according to Travis Dean, vice president, excess casualty at Westfield Specialty. As he told IB, between those years the retail market became more conservative with both capacity and appetite – which caused a supply deficit regarding capacity.
“This was then filled by both E&S and retail carriers coming into the marketplace – Westfield Specialty being one of them,” he added. “This year we’re seeing retail and international [growth] with both Bermuda and London becoming more aggressive, putting supply and demand towards an equilibrium. Regarding the next 12 to 18 months, I believe we’ll continue to see competition in both new and renewal business. However, with that being said, I think it’s important to remember that loss costs are not going down and underwriting discipline is as important as ever.”
As for growth-specific areas, construction products, agriculture, premises, and liability are all thriving – presenting both opportunities and new risks.
“The strongest opportunities in E&S are in those areas where we’re already seeing economic activity and growth, or a genuine need for specialized capacity,” added Shanna Sweeney, senior vice president, excess casualty liability at Upland Specialty Insurance.
“In the construction sector, there’s continued opportunity around infrastructure, civil contractors, specialty trades, and well-controlled projects. The best [ones] are those that are investing in subcontractor management, contractual risk transfer, and fleet controls with telematics. We’re also seeing more and more cameras make their way onto job sites, which is certainly helping. And then, of course, there’s the [overarching] formal safety program. When we talk about products liability being a growth sector, it remains attractive, especially when we can understand what the product is, its end use, and the supply chain impact.
“In that same vein, agriculture also creates an opportunity because it encompasses a wide range of operations, from our growers and processors to our distributors, equipment, and even agribusiness services. That coverage needs to be very specialized, and that’s a niche where we’re seeing specialization pay off. Obviously, premises liability can offer growth, but your location, your venue, your occupancy, your alcohol exposure, and your general foot traffic are still so critical.”
As such, Sweeney told IB that the risks becoming harder to place are those involving multiple severity drivers. For instance, risks located in an unfavorable jurisdiction that also have auto exposure or those involving residential construction with the potential for action-over claims are becoming increasingly challenging to place.
“From a carrier perspective, the opportunity for growth isn’t just about the segment or the class of business. It’s really about identifying the better risk within each segment.”
Creativity and customization: clients’ changing expectations Operating in such a competitive market means that carriers and wholesale brokers need to be at the top of their game to both retain business and win new clients. From Dean’s perspective, this means being highly creative and specialized in his team’s approach.
“It’s important to be creative and customize solutions for our clients. I think with the E&S business, we have freedom of rate and form, which allows us to respond to these challenges with creativity. Finding the right attachment point and pricing is important, as is staying focused on underwriting discipline.”
Finding that balance between underwriting expertise and the creativity element will be key for carriers that thrive as
opposed to those that may struggle in the current market. But, as Gundersen explained, those two factors alone won’t be enough to rely on.
“The speed to market, the responsiveness, and the relationship piece of this business [are all important]. We want to be the first call our wholesale broker makes when they see that complex risk come across their desk.”
David Duran, senior casualty broker at Wholesure, agreed, adding that for him winning business comes down to three core factors; expertise, relationships, and execution.
“Complex casualty business isn’t won by simply having access to markets anymore. It’s won by understanding the risk, understanding the exposure, and then telling the story behind the risk. Relationships are a huge part of that, not because they change the underwriting standards but because they create trust. When a carrier knows you consistently bring quality opportunities and are being transparent about the challenges, they’re more willing to invest the time to work through the deal. At the end of the day, the firms that win clearly tell the story of the risk and are able to work through an account.”
Because while increased competition is giving brokers and insureds more options, price and capacity alone cannot determine the value of a wholesale partner. As the casualty market evolves, expertise, access, financial stability, and the ability to execute are becoming increasingly important differentiators. For Kelley, one trait here is fundamental.
“I would start with expertise,” he told IB. “As complex problem solvers, wholesale brokers, MGAs, program administrators, and specialty underwriters all offer a very high level of technical expertise to their clients (retail agents and insurance buyers), because they deal in complex risk as their daily profession.”
Access is another part of that proposition. Wholesale partners can reach specialty underwriters and markets unavailable through the standard market, bringing another level of knowledge of capacity, pricing, appetite, coverage terms, and product design.
“A report conducted by Conning back in 2016, and updated in 2021, confirmed that wholesale distribution does not increase the cost of the transaction for that underlying insured,” added Kelley. “We anticipate that will be the finding when Conning updates their report later this year as well.”
For Duran, meanwhile, the ultimate differentiator is execution. He told IB that while price and capacity get you in the conversation, it’s execution that keeps you there.
“In today’s market, buyers should be asking when the account gets tough, who’s going to actually add value? For me, there are four things that matter. First, technical expertise. Does your wholesaler partner understand the exposure well enough to anticipate the underwriting questions before they become obstacles? Second is market access with credibility. Anyone can say they have markets, but the decision is whether underwriters trust the broker’s submission and judgement. Third, responsiveness. Complex placements have tight timelines, and speed matters only if it’s paired with accuracy. And finally, advocacy. When there’s a coverage issue, a difficult renewal, or a claim, you want a wholesale partner who is willing to push for the best outcome, not simply relay the messages between parties.”
AI removes friction, not human-in-the-loop underwriting Technology and investments in AI are increasingly influencing that execution. The AI insurance market was valued at $8.63 billion in 2025 – and it’s projected to reach $59.5 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual rate of more than 27 percent. What’s more, recent data found that 86 percent of insurance firms plan to increase AI spending this year – while generative and agentic AI top that lucrative investment list.
For Gundersen, one of the clearest opportunities is improving responsiveness in a business dealing with substantial submission volumes.
“When I think about AI’s role in the wholesale insurance space, its greatest value is improving responsiveness and speed to market. With the volume of submissions coming in, AI can help underwriters prioritize opportunities that align with their underwriting appetite.”
While AI can help with the tedious, more repetitive tasks, Gundersen doesn’t expect technology to remove the underwriter from the equation entirely. After all, this line of work almost demands a human-in-the-loop presence.
“I don’t see a risk not touching an underwriter’s desk. That’s not going to go away – we need that underwriting expertise.”
And it seems as if the market agrees. A new report from the Geneva Association found that while customers appreciate the way AI speeds up processes, nearly 40 percent of respondents worry about losing access to human support.
Dean sees the benefits of AI in the same light, telling IB that it should be used as a tool for improving the underwriting process rather than fundamentally changing the human-in-the-loop element. At Westfield Specialty, AI use remains in the early stages, but potential applications range from analyzing loss runs and extracting exposures to comparing expiring and current exposures on renewals.
“These functions will help the underwriting process become more efficient and will allow underwriters to look at more deals, which will then help with speed to market and customer service. AI will help carriers be faster to market and provide better service, which I believe is a win for brokers, carriers, and clients alike.”
The dividing line, Duran argued, is between administration and judgement. He sees AI eliminating administrative tasks long before it eliminates human judgement.
“The hardest part of our business isn't reading applications; it’s understanding the story behind the risk, asking the right follow-up questions, and making decisions when the information is incomplete. It’s still a human process. I actually think AI makes the relationships more important, not less. And, if everyone has access to similar technology, the differentiator becomes who asks the better questions, who brings better market intelligence, and who can structure a deal appropriately. I see AI taking the friction out of the process, but definitely not taking the underwriting out of complex business.”
Quality vs. speed: making a risk placeable If technology can accelerate the underwriting process, the quality of what goes into that process remains critical. And for retail brokers, that means providing more than applications and loss data – because a strong submission always needs to explain the risk.
“The most placeable submission does three things: it explains the operation clearly, it acknowledges the difficult exposures, and it demonstrates what the insured is doing to control them,” Sweeney added.
That requires a concise narrative explaining how a company makes money, who performs the work, where that work takes place, who its customers are, and what could realistically result in a severe loss. And any loss history also needs context.
“If there is a large claim, explain what happened and what changed, and why the same type of event is less likely to happen again. A loss history without a narrative leaves the underwriter to make assumptions, and those assumptions are rarely favorable… A strong submission does not try to make the risk look perfect. It gives an underwriter enough information to understand why the risk is manageable.”
Timing is another crucial part of making complex casualty business placeable. Duran urged retail brokers to involve wholesale partners earlier rather than approaching them only days before a renewal.
“If we have time, we can shape the marketing strategy, identify the right carriers, address potential pitfalls before they come up, and ultimately create competition for an account,” he added. “At the end of the day, the strongest submissions are complete, transparent, and early. That combination gives us the best chance of meaningful options instead of just shopping for the capacity.”
Building the next generation of leaders The ability to maintain that expertise over the years presents another challenge. As more experienced professionals retire, the wholesale sector needs to both attract new talent and ensure that the judgement accumulated over decades is transferred to the next generation.
To address that talent gap, learning and development is a core part of WSIA’s mission, Kelley told IB. Its outreach now involves more than 100 risk management and insurance programs each year through student symposiums, career fairs, and campus visits, with more than 3,700 students reached last year. And that work is also expanding beyond traditional insurance recruitment channels.
“We expanded our outreach significantly through our Talent Advocacy and Engagement Foundation. [It now includes] non-RMI programs, HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions to reach a broader base of students who might not be aware of RMI careers at all.”
Alongside internships and scholarships for students, the association runs education programs for professionals already in the industry, supporting technical training and professional development throughout their careers.
Recruitment, however, is only one part of the talent challenge. Sweeney argued the industry also needs to think more deliberately about what experienced professionals pass on to those new hires, prioritizing human-led judgement.
Source: WSIA
Stamping office premium: A 2026 outlook
Casualty
Total surplus lines premium reported to the stamping offices was $47.6 billion through mid-year 2026, representing a 2.8% increase over the same period in 2025.
Item counts increased 16.9% over the same period in the prior year.
The 2026 mid-year report also includes data broken down by lines of business. This report identifies key lines of business including auto liability, auto physical damage, disability/A&H, inland marine, liability (non-professional), multi-peril, professional liability, property, and residential/homeowners/other personal property.
Source: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/technology/ai-is-accelerating-in-insurance--are-you-ready-573111.aspx
AI’s growing importance in insurance
The AI insurance market was valued at $8.63B in 2025
It’s projected to reach $59.5B by 2033 – growing at a compound annual rate of more than 27%
86% of insurance firms plan to increase AI spending this year
