Surety Bonding, the Ever Changing Players

I recently celebrated (or cursed depending on the day) my 26th year as a surety bond professional.  While taking a little walk down memory lane, (meaning looking through some old boxes) I came across some old Surety Association of America surety results In 199o the top 10 writers of surety bonds in the U.S. were:

1. F&D Group (now part of Zurich)
2. USF&G (Purchased by St. Paul)
3. Reliance (Purchased by Travelers)
4. Aetna (Now part of Travelers)
5. Fireman’s Fund (Out of the Surety Business)
6. Seaboard Surety (Purchased by St. Paul)
7. Continental (Purchased by CNA)
8. CNA
9. Safeco (Purchased by Liberty)
10. Hartford

Out of the top 10 surety bond companies of 1990, Only 2 are still in business, CNA and Hartford (All though Zurich basically kept the F&D operation in tact)

By 2000, the top 10 players were:

1. Travelers
2. St Paul (purchased by Travelers)
3. CNA
4. Zurich
5. AIG
6. Liberty
7. Ace
8. Safeco (now part of Liberty)
9. Chubb
10. Fireman’s Fund (now out of surety)

Not many changes on the surface, however #11 &12, Amwest and Kemper, both went out of business.

By 2010, the Top 10 players were:

1. Travelers
2. Liberty
3. Zurich
4. CNA
5. Chubb
6. Hartford
7. HCC
8. IFIC
9. NAS
10. ACE

I can’t wait to see who will be on the top 10 list by 2020; I know sure it will be different surety companies than 2010.

John T. Page, President of Surety1