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Most surety deals for privately held companies require the personal guarantee of business owners, similar to bank credit.  When a business gets larger and stronger financially, personal guarantees may be eliminated at some point.  Keep in mind, however, that a surety is also an unsecured creditor, so the surety is…

Controlling the cost of claims is one of the pillars of our service. Our “edge” is our ability to prepare the claim properly for presentation to the carrier.  Understanding exactly what your policy coverage will respond to is most important at a time of loss.  You have paid the premium…

Oswald continues to expand its benefits practice CLEVELAND – Feb. 25, 2013 – Oswald Companies – one of the largest independently owned insurance brokerages in the U.S. – has announced the acquisition of Knezevich & Foerster, LLC., a local firm specializing in group benefits insurance. The acquisition is in direct…

We might as well admit that many companies look at surety bonds as a “necessary evil.”  This is because it’s a product that usually requires a personal guarantee, and may also impede a business owner from success if bonds cannot be obtained under reasonable terms and conditions. On the flip…

It is important to align an organization’s appetite for risk and strategic initiatives.  Incorporating risk planning into your company’s overall strategic plan allows it to react quickly and more efficiently in creating solutions to problems. C-Suite level executives do not like surprises.  ERM reduces the likelihood of surprises and unfunded…

We’re excited to be in Tampa on Thursday, Feb. 28, hosting a global benefits panel discussion with HR Tampa, Tampa’s Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) chapter. Our panelists are based in Paris, Rome and Toronto and are experts in European, North African and Canadian employee benefits. The benefits landscape…

You need to have at least one good bonding relationship, and that relationship should be with your surety broker.  A good surety broker can effectively guide you through what could otherwise be an unwieldy and confusing process. For companies where bonding is critical, you may also want your broker to…

Life Sciences companies frequently fail to enter formal contractual agreements with their suppliers, and instead rely on insufficient purchase orders or contracts that don’t provide enough detail. Here are some pitfalls: i)        Purchase orders are one-sided and typically don’t require the supplier to indemnify or carry appropriate insurance. ii)       Is…

Without the right surety broker, you are rolling the “bonding dice.”  Worse yet, some people don’t know they are essentially gambling when it comes to their company’s surety bond needs.  Surety bonds are a very specialized non-insurance credit product, and a relatively small niche segment of the entire insurance industry.…

On occasion, the client of an attorney will need a surety bond, and these bonds are placed by surety brokers.  We refer to these as Court, Fiduciary and Probate Bonds, which are required by various courts in our judicial system.  These bonds are used to protect either property or money. …