BDO's Michaels ready for tough talks with insurers

Simon Michaels, senior partner at BDO

The head of BDO Stoy Hayward has said he expected firms to have testing negotiations with their insurers when renewing professional indemnity cover.

His forecast comes after brokers said cover would rise by up to 15% and insurance giant Hiscox said premiums were at unsustainably low levels.

Simon Michaels, senior partner at the firm, said: ‘There haven’t yet been a higher incidence of claims for the insurers to say that there needs to be an increase in premiums. The renewal conversations are going to be very interesting.’ The firms regard talks with their insurers as highly sensitive and have broadly remained tight-lipped about their arrangements.

A Grant Thornton spokesman said: ‘While the [PI insurance] market isn’t perfect, it is competitive, so if premium rates increase more capacity will be attracted, applying downward pressure.’

Gary Head, professions underwriting director at Hiscox, said: ‘When you look at the uncertainty from the credit crunch, certainly there’s going to be potential for more law suits brought against accountants.’