R&Q subsidiary ASC targets growth in US surety market

Accredited Surety and Casualty (ASC), a property/casualty insurer a subsidiary of Randall & Quilter (R&Q), has entered the surety market in the US thanks to a new underwriting agreement.

The company has entered into an underwriting agreement with East Coast Surety Agency, a subsidiary of CB Holdings Group and affiliate of Boston Indemnity Company (BIC), and Bondex Insurance Company. The companies specialise in providing surety bonds to small and mid-size companies that are underserved in the traditional surety market.

ASC will retain a small percentage of the underwriting, supported by a very strong reinsurer panel, under the terms of the agreement, the company said.

Ken Randall, chairman and chief executive officer of R&Q, said: "We have successfully launched the first phase of our plan to broaden the business model for Accredited, which was acquired by the group at the end of 2014. Accredited is authorised to underwrite a wide range of domestic insurance business across the USA and has recently received approval to accept loss portfolio transfers of certain classes of domestic US legacy business.

“With the support of a number of highly rated Lloyd's and international reinsurers, our aim is to generate sustainable service fee income for the group whilst retaining limited net underwriting exposures. I believe that Accredited has the potential to become a meaningful source of income for Lloyd's and other international reinsurers who are not authorised to underwrite such domestic USA business.

“We see significant growth potential for Accredited in both live and legacy areas and we expect to be making further announcements in due course, as and when specific transactions have been concluded.”
Matthew Semeraro, president and chief operating officer of ECS, BIC and Bondex, commented: “We are excited to partner with Accredited and R&Q to further enhance our capabilities and provide financially solid, A-rated surety solutions to our agents and brokers.”