Arch Insurance North America has launched a direct US transactional liability team focused on representations and warranties and tax coverage products, entering the market at a point where both the pricing cycle and the claims record argue for direct underwriting capacity rather than exclusively partner-distributed capacity.
The timing is specific. Average quoted R&W rates climbed from 2.5% in Q4 2024 to 3.23% a year later, per Gallagher's transactional risk data, as submissions rose 5% year-over-year through 2025. Marsh's Global Transactional Risk Insurance Claims Report 2026 found insurers paid nearly $650 million to Marsh clients in 2025, with breaches of financial-statement representations driving more than half of those losses. A market where rates are firming and claims are substantial and well-documented is one where direct underwriting relationships - with the accountability and responsiveness they carry - become more valuable to sophisticated M&A participants than purely capacity-priced placements through intermediaries.
Arch has been active in the transactional risk market for more than 15 years through MGA and MGU partners across North America, Bermuda and the UK. The new direct US platform complements rather than replaces that distribution model - a deliberate architecture that gives Arch two distinct channels for different transaction profiles. Partner channels handle volume deal flow efficiently; a direct team with deep broker and legal relationships can engage on larger, more complex transactions where underwriting judgment, speed of response and claims-handling commitment carry more weight than price alone.
William Carson, senior vice president, transactional risk, will lead the team, reporting to Chris Christon, senior vice president, Executive Assurance. Carson joins from Everest and brings the broker and legal relationships the direct model depends on. He framed the underwriting proposition precisely: "They want an underwriting partner that can move quickly, understand transaction complexity and stand behind its commitments when claims arise. Our goal is to deliver a high-quality experience across the transaction lifecycle without sacrificing underwriting discipline."
The direct US R&W market is competitive. Carriers including AIG, Beazley, Liberty Mutual, Allied World and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty compete for deal flow that Cooley's M&A group has said can draw more than 20 quotes on smaller transactions, up from as few as one or two on comparable deals during the tighter capacity conditions of 2021. That competitive intensity has not eliminated pricing discipline - the rate firming since Q4 2024 suggests the market has absorbed claims experience and begun repricing accordingly - but it does mean new entrants need to differentiate on service and commitment rather than capacity alone.
US M&A deal value reached $1.2 trillion in the first five months of 2026, nearly double the $603 billion recorded over the same period in 2025, even as overall deal volume dipped slightly, according to PwC. EY-Parthenon forecasts an 8% increase in US deal volume for transactions above $100 million in 2026, driven largely by corporate M&A projected to grow 11%, with private equity deal volume roughly flat after a slower start to the year.
The PE dynamic matters directly for transactional risk demand. US private equity firms are estimated to be sitting on close to $1 trillion in dry powder, with sponsors facing mounting pressure from limited partners to deploy capital and return proceeds from aging fund vintages. RWI has become a standard clean exit tool for sponsors avoiding extended escrow holdbacks, and Cooley's M&A group has noted that carriers are now willing to underwrite less traditional structures including GP-led secondaries and continuation vehicles - transaction types becoming more common as sponsors seek liquidity alternatives to a traditional sale.
