Commercial and Specialty Lines Glossary · Insurance

Additional insured: a party other than the named insured covered by an endorsement on the policy (in GL, ISO's CG 20 10, CG 20 37 and their blanket versions); a certificate saying so confers nothing without the endorsement (Certificates of Insurance).
Approved Insurance Provider (AIP): a private insurer that sells, services and adjusts federal crop insurance policies and shares their gains and losses with FCIC under the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (Crop Insurance).
Business owners policy (BOP): a pre-packaged property and liability policy for small eligible businesses, rated by one algorithm on one form set (The Commercial Lines Map).
Certificate of insurance (COI): a form (usually ACORD 25) showing that policies exist, issued for information only; it cannot amend, extend or alter the coverage or confer rights beyond the policy (Certificates of Insurance).
Circular 570: the US Treasury's list of companies certified as sureties and reinsurers on federal bonds, with each company's underwriting limitation (Surety Bonds).
Claims-made policy: a policy that covers claims first made during the policy period (or an extended reporting period) for wrongful acts after the retroactive date (Professional & Management Liability).
Claims-made relationship: the period from the first claims-made policy with an insurer through its renewals, during which the retroactive date may not change in New York (Professional & Management Liability).
Commercial general liability (CGL): liability coverage for bodily injury and property damage (Coverage A), personal and advertising injury (B) and medical payments (C), on ISO's CG 00 01 occurrence or CG 00 02 claims-made forms (The Commercial Lines Map).
Defense within limits: a policy whose defense costs reduce the limit of liability, regulated in New York by minimum limits and a 50% cap (Professional & Management Liability).
Diligent search: the surplus lines broker's documented attempt to place a risk with admitted insurers (three declinations in New York and California) before placing it non-admitted (Excess & Surplus Lines).
Excess and surplus lines (E&S): insurance placed by a licensed surplus lines broker with an insurer not admitted in the home state but eligible there, free of rate and form filing (Excess & Surplus Lines).
Extended reporting period (tail): time after a claims-made policy ends during which claims for earlier wrongful acts may still be made, automatic for 60 days in New York and offered for longer (Professional & Management Liability).
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC): the federal corporation, managed by USDA's Risk Management Agency, that offers, subsidizes and reinsures federal crop insurance (Crop Insurance).
General indemnity agreement: the contract by which a surety's principal and its owners agree to repay the surety for every loss and cost under its bonds and to post collateral on demand (Surety Bonds).
Loss run: an insurer's report of an insured's claims, with paid, reserved and incurred amounts as of a valuation date, used by other insurers to underwrite the account (The Commercial Lines Map).
Miller Act: the federal law requiring performance and payment bonds on federal construction contracts above a threshold ($150,000 under the FAR) (Surety Bonds).
Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA): the 2010 federal law making the insured's home state the only state that may tax, license the broker for and regulate a surplus lines placement (Excess & Surplus Lines).
Occurrence policy: a policy that covers injury or damage happening during the policy period, whenever the claim is made (The Commercial Lines Map).
Penal sum: the maximum amount a surety is liable for under a bond (Surety Bonds).
Retroactive date: the date before which wrongful acts are not covered by a claims-made policy (Professional & Management Liability).
Revenue protection: a federal crop plan whose guarantee is the production guarantee times the greater of the projected and harvest prices, with production to count valued at the harvest price (Crop Insurance).
Schedule rating: a filed plan that credits or debits a commercial premium for risk characteristics within set maximums, chosen and justified by the underwriter (The Commercial Lines Map).
Silent cyber: exposure to cyber losses under policies that neither grant nor exclude them (Cyber Insurance).
Stamping office: the body in a state that receives, checks and records every surplus lines transaction and its tax (Excess & Surplus Lines).
Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA): the annual agreement under which FCIC reinsures and subsidizes AIPs, with fund designations, retentions, loss-ratio bands and A&O subsidy (Crop Insurance).
State-backed cyber-attack exclusion: a clause, mandatory in Lloyd's standalone cyber policies since March 31, 2023, excluding attacks attributed to a state that significantly impair its functioning or security (Cyber Insurance).
Surety bond: a three-party guarantee in which a surety promises an obligee that a principal will perform an obligation, with the principal liable to repay the surety (Surety Bonds).
Underwriting limitation: the largest single risk a Treasury-certified surety may write on its own, 10% of its paid-up capital and surplus (Surety Bonds).