Services for Insurance Brokers

We provide several different services to our insurance broker clients, both retail brokers and wholesale brokers. Some of the services we provide are free of charge, and some of the services are for a fee. We have been providing such services for 30 years, to insurance brokers throughout the United States, as well as for several London brokers.

With respect to insurance policy reviews, we provide our broker clients with the same services that we provide to our large corporate clients. We can improve the coverages and wordings in many different types of insurance, including but not limited to the following:

Directors & Officers Liability
Employment Practices Liability
Fiduciary Liability
Professional Liability
Bankers Professional Liability
Tech E&O/Cyber
Stand-alone Cyber

Not only do we provide a list of wording changes to make, but, depending on the line of coverage at issue, and insurer used, we also can provide a PDF file of endorsements and/or excerpts of manuscript policies that contain the coverages and wordings that we know the carrier can add to the policy.

Market-Based Experience

Our wording change requests are based in reality, not dreams. We provide wording requests based only on wordings available in the market for the line of coverage at issue. We know what wordings are available from our library of policies we have negotiated the past 30+ years on all of the lines of coverage noted above.

Case Law Integration

In addition to a comparative analysis based on currently-available wordings in the market, we also bring to bear key case law that is important to take into account when negotiating certain policy wording on all of the lines of coverage noted above. Examples of how we take case law into account when negotiating policy wording are explained on Michael Rossi’s LinkedIn account, via Advisory Notes he posts on a regular basis, that explain the issues we are negotiating in our policy reviews.

For any policy reviewed, we are happy to have a call with the insurer and our corporate client’s insurance broker to negotiate the wording change requests.

We excel at this, given our knowledge of policy wording provided by many carriers throughout the US and UK, the case law that supports why we are making the policy wording change request, and acceptable fallback or compromise wordings that can be used to address the issues we are raising. The reputation we have developed in regard to negotiating policy wording changes with a carrier is “firm but fair”. We like that reputation, and believe it appropriately describes our approach.

Training & Foundations

It all starts with our training program. We train our broker clients on key coverage issues that we know can help get them BORs from prospective insureds. All of our training is done free of charge.

Then we help our broker clients develop marketing strategies, scripts for phone calls and email pitches. Again, all free of charge.

Strategic Support & Collaboration

When a broker client receives interest from a prospective insured, we help our broker client prepare a presentation to the insured, and help present to the insured. Also at no charge.

As an aside, we also do the same training and marketing strategizing with our insurance carrier friends. In this way, they understand why we are asking for certain coverages and wordings, and we help them increase market share for certain market segments, both for Primary and Excess/DIC Side A insurance. One of the reasons why we are so successful in negotiating coverage enhancements in D&O programs is because of this unique relationship we have with several carriers in the US and London Market that we have developed the past 30 years. We do not have any insurance carriers as clients, so there is no conflict of interests, but we have many insurance carrier friends in the US and London Market, and those friendships inure to the benefit of our insurance broker clients.

The process outlined above has proven to be very successful. Why is this part of our practice so successful? Because the vast majority of the 5,000+ public D&O programs placed for US risks have very poor coverage when compared to our metrics.

What are our metrics? We have a library of endorsements and manuscript policy forms that we have developed the past 30+ years, after being involved in more than 1,400 D&O renewals, that provide “best in class” wordings on myriad issues (more than 40 issues for a Primary D&O policy, and more than 30 issues for an Excess/DIC Side A policy).

So we know with a high degree of certainty what “best in class” coverage and wordings most of the carriers that write public company D&O for US risks can provide. And a lot of this “best in class” wording is not being included in the D&O programs we are reviewing. Accordingly, it is very easy to explain to a company that the D&O program they purchased has meaningful deficiencies that (a) expose the personal assets of the directors and officers of the company to risk that the company cannot legally indemnify, and (b) expose the balance sheet of the company to losses that they fully expected to be covered by the D&O program they purchased. Part and parcel of this approach is providing legal advice regarding corporate indemnification law that applies to the company based on where they are incorporated, and insurance coverage legal advice based on where the company is headquartered and policies are placed. And we explain how all these deficiencies can be addressed at renewal, either at no increase in premium, or at a decrease in premium, depending on certain variables.

After going through such a process, there is a good probability that the company will provide our broker client with a BOR so that we can address the deficiencies identified.

When it comes to helping our broker clients address the deficiencies identified in a company’s D&O program after the broker gets a BOR, we deliver for our broker clients, and the company and its directors and officers, as follows.

Carrier Access & Competitive Positioning

First, we make sure our broker clients know, and have the contact information for, the senior personnel at our key carrier friends with whom we have developed strong relationships over the years. This extends to the London Market as well, where, through a limited number of London brokers with whom we work very closely, we have access to a select number of Lloyd’s syndicates that can agree to subscribe to our “best in class” wordings.

These carrier relationships help our broker clients in two different ways: (1) getting access to many different carriers, both for Primary policies and Excess/DIC Side A policies, to ensure they can secure favorable pricing for their insured client through competition, and (b) getting “best in class” wordings in all policies in the program – Primary, Excess ABC, Excess/DIC Side A and Excess Side A.

Negotiating Stronger Terms & Renewals

Second, we help negotiate the wording changes to the incumbent policies, and help negotiate alternative quotes, both for Primary and Lead Excess/DIC Side A.

So whether the company stays with the incumbent carriers they had been using, or moves to other carriers, the D&O program is dramatically broadened at renewal, at either no increase in premium, or at a lower premium, if not also lower retention.

The process outlined above applies to all size companies, from nano-cap companies with market capitalizations as low as $10 million, all the way up to Fortune 500 companies with market capitalizations in the tens of billions of dollars.

Ready to Improve Your Insurance Program?

Whether you’re a risk manager looking to strengthen your company’s coverage or an insurance broker ready to grow your business, we’re here to help.