LIU's E&S Expansion Gives Brokers a New Alternative Market

Despite Liberty International Underwriters' relatively youthful age of seven years in the property/casualty insurance marketplace, brokers within the P/C industry are familiar with LIU and the impact it's had globally. A division of the financially strong Liberty Mutual Group, LIU (www.libertyiu.com) offers $50 million in excess casualty capacity distributed through the global independent broker network.

In LIU's relatively brief history, in fact, brokers are very familiar with how the company can meet a client's niche coverage needs. LIU's primary $50 million limits of liability facility writes a wide variety of accounts for a number of Fortune 500 clients and operates in several key industries, including construction, commercial property owners and financial institutions. Whether it's a power generation company that needs to protect its factories and people from damage and injury or a growing business that wants to insulate its profits against employee fraud, LIU offers products that deliver tailor-made coverage. Plus, LIU's risk management and loss prevention expertise, combined with its world-class claims management, are a potent one-two punch.

With offices across the United States, LIU is a global company that offers the broker community a contact point in every U.S. time zone. (LIU offices are in New York City, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, with new locations planned for Boston and Atlanta in 2008.) Within those offices, the experienced LIU underwriting staff averages 22 years in the business.

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"Our underwriting experience really distinguishes us," says Denise Morris, LIU senior vice president, excess casualty. "From the beginning, we've been problem-solvers. We look at almost every risk, and we find a way to write it. Most of all, we will find a way to tailor coverage to meet an insured's needs.

"There is almost nothing LIU can't look at for at least some attachment point," she adds. "When we go out to brokers, they generally know what it is we can and can't do."

With its deep underwriting experience, outstanding customer service and excellent claims management as a foundation, LIU recently began offering an exciting new $10 million excess & surplus facility, for tough-to-place accounts.

"For this new facility, the sky's the limit," Morris explains. "In fact, we have very few exclusions within this facility." To illustrate her point, Morris notes that LIU has written playground equipment, sporting goods manufacturing and toy manufacturing ... even a fireworks manufacturer.

"For brokers that may not know about this new facility, we now have a true appetite for tough-to-place coverage," Morris says, adding that brokers unaware of the new LIU facility, which launched November 1, 2007, could miss a critical opportunity for an important new market to take to their clients.

"We represent a very viable option in a broker's potential business arsenal," she says. "If a broker doesn't check with what LIU can offer, they might be blindsided competitively by a broker who did look into LIU before going to a client."

And in the worst case, she says, brokers wouldn't want a client to question why they didn't get a quote from LIU when they were in the market for hard-to-place coverage.

Morris explains that LIU has always offered this particular E&S facility, but it had been capped at $5 million.

"Now, we have $10 million capacity after hearing from brokers who were looking to expand in some specific areas of growth. We see growing this business as a way to really demonstrate that we are hungry to place coverage in this specific market segment," Morris says. "We have the talent within our main $50 million facility, and that same talent will be applied to our new E&S facility. Our goal is to be considered a major player in the surplus lines market across the board."

Morris emphasizes that the same world-class customer service that LIU offers in its main facility is also integral to its new E&S product offering. In fact, Morris says it's not unusual for brokers to come to LIU at the 11th hour. And when that happens, LIU will help them really deliver truly outstanding service to their clients.

"We return our calls, and when someone comes to us with a complete submission and the proper underwriting information, our field underwriters have the decision-making authority to write the business on the spot," she says. "They don't have to check with home office first--something else that separates us from the competition."

For more information on how LIU can help you and your clients, contact Morris at 415-983-4555, or e-mail her at denise.morris@libertyiu.com.

(The above piece is part of our continuing Insights series designed to highlight key products and services to our readers. This paid-for Insights was written and edited by Risk & Insurance® on behalf of our marketing partner. Additional Insights can be found on our Web site at www.riskandinsurance.com/.)

December 18, 2007

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