Despite the recent easing of concerns over insurance company financial strength, the survey found the financial strength of the underwriter will have a tangible effect on both the volume of business that risk managers place with an insurer and, to a lesser extent, the price they are willing pay.

Despite recent questions over the dependability of ratings agencies, they remain the most influential tool when assessing insurer security, with 39 percent of those surveyed ranking them their top source. More than a third of buyers (34 percent) said that security ratings influenced the volume of business they are willing to place with a particular insurer “between 90 percent and 100 percent of the time”. A further 25 percent said it did so 50 percent – 90 percent of the time, meaning that nearly out of 10 corporate risk managers are usually influenced by the ratings when making buying decisions.

Ratings agencies are, however, by no means the only factors. Of the 81 risk managers, controlling a spend of in excess of £1.2 billion of annual spend, polled 28 percent said that brokers and other third party sources were their top source of information, whilst 23 percent cited their own evaluations.

The research also found that, once an insurer has achieved an acceptable security level, other factors came to the fore, especially long-term relationships and underwriting flexibility.

“Our results demonstrate that AIRMIC members continue to pay a great deal of attention to the security of their insurers. However, although ratings agencies remain very important to them, most buyers prefer to consult a variety of sources before making a decision. It’s no longer the case that a good security rating on its own is enough for most insurance buyers,” said AIRMIC Insurance Steering Group chair Kip Berkeley-Herring.