The first half of 2022 brought rapid and dramatic change to the world of US public company D&O insurance. It feels like 2021 is a distant memory: the hot IPO market has cooled, SPAC IPOs have ground to a near halt, and incumbent carriers are now fending off new insurance market entrants that are aggressively targeting their insureds.

During 1H 2022, pricing trends flipped from where they were in 2H 2021. This shift is most dramatic for those business sectors where Woodruff Sawyer’s clients happen to be most heavily weighted: life science, technology, and IPOs. These industry segments were hit hardest by the hard market and consequently are gaining the most benefit from the current, more competitive market. More mature companies or those in less risky industries are also benefiting from the improving market, but the scale of the percentage decreases through the rest of this year and into 2023 will be somewhat more muted. As always, clients beset by tricky litigation, or litigation precursors such as large stock drops after releasing bad news, may still see increases.