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 * Sections
   * Critical Risks
   * Risk Management
   * The Insurance Industry
   * Claims & The Law
   * Workers’ Comp Forum
   * Risk Insiders
   * Sector Focus
   * .
   * Risk Central
   * Power Broker
   * Risk Matrix
   * Risk Scenarios
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   * Teddy Award
   * Sponsored Content
   * Branded Webinars
 * Magazine
   * Digital Issue
   * Issue Archive
   * Subscribe
 * Conferences
   * Ergo
   * National Comp
 * Advertise
 * Subscribe
 * More
   * Award Applications
   * Newsletters
   * &BrandStudio
   * Privacy Policy
   * About R&I
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   * Media Kit

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THIS GENERAL COUNSEL PROVES THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF OPEN COMMUNICATION WITH
LEGAL TO STOP RISKS IN THEIR TRACKS

Elizabeth Bounds increased awareness of legal pitfalls within her company by
bridging the gap between staff and the legal department.
By: R&I Editorial Team | July 25, 2022
Topics: Employment Practices | July/Aug. 2022 Issue | Risk All Stars | Risk
Management



To effectively manage risk, a company must first be able to identify potential
exposures. Recently promoted to general counsel at Brown & Riding, Elizabeth
Bounds recognized the faster this identification takes place, the  more
effective an organization can be at finding solutions.

When she first  joined B&R in 2014, Bounds noted, “Employees didn’t have a clear
understanding about which issues to raise or how, where or when to raise them.”

External legal counsel had previously made occasional presentations on reporting
issues. However, their methods were impersonal and failed to engage staff. They
also did not provide a concrete framework for how employees should handle the
risks they identified.

Bounds understood employees’ hesitation in speaking with the legal department
and identified the need to increase her visibility. To start, she had to build
rapport with employees, convey approachability and educate them about which
issues were important to report. Bounds also knew she had to reassure employees
that they need not fear reprisal by bringing forward concerns.

“When offering information to legal, employees worry that they’re essentially
telling on themselves,” Bounds said. “I needed to assure them that regardless of
where or how a problem arose, I am here to work with them to find solutions, not
to punish or reprimand.”

Drawing from her own experiences with colleagues, Bounds identified face-to-face
communication as a far more effective way to engage: “It’s more personal than
Zoom, has fewer distractions and is more conducive to discussion and meaningful
interaction. When people feel more comfortable, they are more likely to
participate.”

She implemented a legal training program with a more casual environment. Since
doing this, Bounds has started making regular visits to each office to keep
conversations open. During her sessions, she explains the costs and consequences
of previous legal issues the firm has faced and preventative measures that could
have been taken if problems had been brought to light sooner.

“Early detection maximizes our ability to find workable solutions before things
progress to a point of no return,” she said. “Using real-life examples gives
context and makes the message relevant and relatable. It helps answer the
question ‘why should I care?’ by demonstrating how these issues might arise in
their own practice.”

Her overall strategy has proven to be a great success. Despite B&R’s growth in
recent years, the number of E&O claims have gone down. The company’s external
legal expenses also continue to decrease.

“That isn’t even the most important part,” Bounds said. “The greater impact is
that we are more aptly equipped to help our customers when they need it. We’ve
always been invested in partnering with retailers and carriers. The fact that
our staff has become more proactive in identifying potential problems sooner has
allowed us to provide better service and deliver better results.” &

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every year, Risk & Insurance selects deserving candidates to become Risk All
Stars. These are risk managers who, through their perseverance, passion and
creativity, make a big difference to the stability of their organizations.

See all the 2022 Risk All Star Winners here.

The R&I Editorial Team can be reached at riskletters@theinstitutes.org.





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SPONSORED: PHILADELPHIA INSURANCE COMPANIES



COMMERCIAL SURETY BONDS ARE VITAL FOR MANY PROJECTS. AUTOMATION AND DEDICATED
UNDERWRITERS MAKE THEM EVEN MORE POTENT

Talented underwriters and sophisticated automation systems are a winning
combination for the surety bond business.
By: Philadelphia Insurance Companies | March 1, 2023

The $1 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs enacted in 2021 has pumped billions of
dollars into communities so that they can invest in building roads, bridges and
improving power systems.

Now as those projects are getting underway, they’ll need support from surety
bonds. These financial tools help ensure that projects are completed on time. A
contractor purchases a bond and the surety partner agrees to meet the
obligations of a given project if something happens and they’re unable to finish
the job.

“I think it will end up really helping our industry grow,” said James Crinnion,
chief underwriting officer and VP of commercial surety for Philadelphia
Insurance Companies (PHLY), in referring to the Investment, Infrastructure and
Jobs Act which was signed into law in late 2021 and which will pump hundreds of
billions into infrastructure projects.

Though common in the construction industry and required for government work,
surety bonds can support a wide range of projects, from building roads and
bridges to guaranteeing the construction of large oil tankers.

Increased infrastructure investments may be spurring the demand for bonds, but
surety partners may find that their reinsurers are beginning to restrict
capacity, often as the result of frequent losses caused by natural catastrophes
over the last few years. These restrictions can have ripple effects for bonds.

“The reinsurers definitely have their marching orders to raise rates on all
lines, even if they weren’t affected by the cats,” Crinnion said. “It affects
surety even if we didn’t hit the treaty. It trickles down, there’s no doubt
about it.”

To navigate this new terrain, agents and brokers working with companies in need
of commercial surety bonds should seek out partners that combine strong
technological capabilities and a team of dedicated underwriters committed to
domestic and international growth. These companies can balance the need for
surety bonds even as reinsurers are rebalancing their appetites for certain
exposures.


TECHNOLOGY HELPS MEET INCREASING SURETY DEMANDS

James Crinnion, Chief Underwriting Officer and VP of Commercial Surety for
Philadelphia Insurance Companies

To support an increased need for commercial surety bonds, PHLY has turned to
technology to automate some parts of the bonding process.

PHLY’s point-of-sale system allows agents and brokers to choose from thousands
of different bonding options, answer a series of questions and provide their
clients with the solution they need. This service is particularly beneficial for
smaller, standard bonds required by various municipalities. The digital,
paperless process helps get bonds into the hands of agents and their clients
swiftly.

“You can’t have someone manually underwrite every single submission. It’s just
not efficient anymore,” Crinnion said. “We’ve been able to ramp up the
automation and that just really helps the entire process. We’re growing the book
of business in the right way.”

Automation in the industry has helped small projects get the coverage they need,
while ensuring underwriters are able to meet the demand for bonds in the face of
an industry wide talent shortage.

“The strain in surety is not only the reinsurance capacity. It’s the number of
competent underwriters out there,” Crinnion said. “You really have to lean on
technology to help you out. Otherwise, you’d need an army of underwriters and
that just doesn’t exist anymore.”


COMMITTED UNDERWRITERS FUEL GROWTH

New technologies support underwriting teams in their efforts to write bonds for
a wide variety of national and international businesses. As Crinnion puts it,
“you can’t get there on technology alone, and you can’t get there with just
people alone.” Surety bond writers need a combination of both to get the job
done efficiently.

The boots-on-the-ground presence provided by underwriters helps the insurer
issuing the bonds understand the scope of a project, any geographical challenges
and its financial plans.  This local knowledge is one advantage for ensuring the
job is completed on time and as bid.

“When a bond gets over a certain size, it’s almost mandatory; we meet with our
principals to discuss the obligation,” Crinnion said.

“We need to get in front of the risk manager, or the CFO and any other company
officer so we can understand the financial plan of the company. Where’s the cash
management? How are they going to pay for and cashflow whatever it is that we’re
bonding?”

Many businesses have gotten used to conducting meetings over Zoom the past few
years and the insurance industry is no exception.

Crinnion believes, however, that businesses are best served by local
underwriters who understand the exposures a bonded project could face in a given
region, especially for complicated situations. PHLY Surety maintains a
brick-and-mortar presence in thirteen offices across the U.S., so that clients
can benefit from their underwriter’s regional expertise.

“You shouldn’t be an underwriter in California trying to underwrite larger,
complex bonds in Florida. Local presence is just so key,” Crinnion said. “Some
underwriters cover multiple states, but they’re always within their geographic
region.”

In addition to their domestic presence, PHLY has experience writing bonds for
international projects either where a U.S. company is building something
overseas or when an internatonial company is building something in the US.

Crinnion also believes that custom bonds are just one area where PHLY
anticipates growth over the next few years. “It requires a little bit more
diligence and underwriting, but it’s certainly an area we see continuing to grow
on the surety side,” he said.

And of course, a growing business needs fresh underwriting talent. “We keep
trying to grow our trainee class year over year to help replenish the pipeline
of underwriters coming up through the ranks,” Crinnion said.


PHILADELPHIA INSURANCE COMPANIES: A FULL SERVICE, SURETY BOND PARTNER

PHLY has more than a decade of experience underwriting commercial surety bonds.
The team manages over $7 billion in liabilities and generates around $80 million
in premiums and anticipates continued expansion.

Its best-in-class point-of-sales system is supported by an IT and technology
team and a group of talented, surety professionals. “There’s a real synergy with
our IT department and they have a deep understanding that surety’s different
than traditional insurance products,” Crinnion said.

Some of the members of the technology team even worked as surety underwriters
earlier in their careers. Their deep expertise and exclusive focus on surety
projects helps them work with brokers and agents to solve the technology
problems and quickly get the bonds to market.

“We’re very blessed to have a dedicated technology team here,” Crinnion said.
“It allows us to be a little bit quicker, a little bit more nimble when
challenges are presented.”

Beyond the strength of its team, PHLY’s underwriting footprint is built to
assist agents and brokers nationwide in helping commercial clients place surety
bonds and the organization has expanded its international capabilities. Its full
service operation is equipped with the tools and capacity to serve many
different types and sizes of bonds.

“It’s a partnership all the way around,” Crinnion said.

To learn more, visit: https://www.phly.com/surety/


 



This article was produced by the R&I Brand Studio, a unit of the advertising
department of Risk & Insurance, in collaboration with Philadelphia Insurance
Companies. The editorial staff of Risk & Insurance had no role in its
preparation.







Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) offers product-specific resources,
alliances, and service capabilities to achieve a multi-faceted approach to risk
management, including safety program development, site audits, and training
(including interactive web-based training). We offer a wide range of products
and value-added services at financial terms to be agreed upon to help you
achieve your risk management goals.







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