Deciding what level of limits to purchase for liability insurance can be one of the toughest questions facing organisations. Low-frequency/high-severity incidents require a dramatically different management approach than do other parts of the property/casualty program.

The 14th annual edition of Marsh’s Limits of Liability is a global benchmarking report that aims to help companies strike a balance between the cost of excess liability insurance and their specific coverage needs.

• Information from 6,032 companies went into this year’s report, from 42 countries on six continents, making Limits of Liability the most reliable source of liability insurance benchmarking available.

• The combined revenues of all the participating companies is $10.6 trillion. To give that some sense of perspective, that’s more than the combined GDPs of most countries in Europe!

• Globally, the cost of excess limits dropped significantly in 2005, while the average limit purchased was essentially flat.

• The average limit purchased varied greatly among the industry groupings tracked in the report. In Europe, the average limits purchased ranged from €138 million for Transportation in Southern Europe, to €1million in Consumer and Retail Brands in Central and Eastern Europe.

You can down-load Limits of Liability 2005, Liability Insurance Buyers Report, Europe 2005, and a selection of European industry reports and single country mini- reports from the list on the right.

Alternatively, if you would like to discuss your company's liability insurance needs, or arrange a meeting with a member of the Marsh team, please email us at: insurancebuyersreport.europe@marsh.com.