AmWINS: New Exclusive Capacity for Excess Public D&O

The current environment for public D&O in the U.S. is very competitive for most industry classes. A growing number of insurers are vying to write primary D&O, where premiums are the largest, and a considerably larger number of carriers clamor to write Excess D&O and Side A D&O. In terms of available limits for larger, layered D&O programs, there are relatively few markets willing or able to offer significant capacity; thus, most placements are structured in increments of $5M or $10M layers.

AmWINS now has a semi-exclusive solution, available from Lloyd's of London, which is capable of offering additional capacity up to $25M in limits. Lloyd's is uniquely positioned to offer such capacity since risks are syndicated, or shared between multiple underwriting firms known as syndicates. This risk-sharing mechanism allows Lloyd's to be aggressive on challenging accounts and also to offer more capacity than markets that are fully responsible for a risk. Policyholders receive one Lloyd's policy, which is supported by the individual syndicates and backed by Lloyd's multi-billion dollar guarantee/reserve fund; this provides added security in order to ensure that the syndicates' financial obligations will be met.

Lloyd's is the oldest continuously functioning insurance market, and at one time, it dominated the public D&O marketplace. The market was known for face-to-face interactions between all parties to a transaction and for its commitment to building long-term relationships with insureds. Aided by capacity from corporate syndicates of many U.S. and Bermuda-based insurance companies, Lloyd's has renewed its commitment to being a leader in the public company D&O space and has recently taken steps to innovate.

The new capacity is unique in many ways:

• It is provided exclusively to clients of the three largest U.S. wholesalers, including AmWINS;

• It is provided by the Lloyd's syndicates of Hiscox, Chubb and Starr;

• It is truly new and additional capacity and does not negate, block or otherwise interfere with direct submissions to Hiscox, Chubb or Starr or with current participation by Hiscox, Chubb or Starr on an existing public company D&O program;

• It can provide follow form Excess D&O and/or broad Side A DIC coverage;

• It is 100% Lloyd's of London, "A" rated paper and affords the protection of the Lloyd's guarantee/reserve fund.This facility is ready for business with effective dates of December 1, 2014 or later. In testing the facility, we've found it to be a competitive solution of interest to many of our clients and their insureds. If you have a public D&O account and need competitively priced excess capacity, please contact your AmWINS Financial Services broker and request a quote from the CAS facility.