“The nimbleness of surplus lines writers—their ability to craft policies tailored to the insured’s needs, while also taking advantage of the hard market—has provided significant benefits over the past two years,” said AM Best in its report, adding, “Surplus lines policy premium is on average multiple times that of admitted insurers on both packaged and standalone policies.” Surplus lines writers also achieved a better loss ratio at just over 17% for standalone policies compared to admitted carriers’ 29.5%, the ratings firm pointed out. AM Best found little change in insurer rankings—Chubb, Fairfax Financial, AXA XL and Tokio Marine remained the top writers by premium between 2021 and 2022. Arch Insurance Group jumped from the ninth spot to fifth in terms of market share and more than doubled its direct premiums written.