On April 25th, 2019 at the W Miami, the Surety Alliance held its 8th annual partner meeting lead by Steven Raffuel, Co-Founder and President of the international group of surety professionals and founder of Raffuel Surety Group. The event welcomed delegates from across the globe for a 2-day intensive discussion on the ever-evolving domestic and international surety world.
The past two years have undergone some of the largest construction losses in Canadian history with several large contractors recently entering receivership. This is not far behind the largest loss in European history with the collapse of Carillion. These events fueled the discussion of bringing further awareness to regions where inadequate percentage bonds are the norm of surety’s value as a protective tool.
“Miami represents the largest gathering of members in the 8-year history of the Surety Alliance. Aggregate surety premiums globally controlled by our members reached $335,000,000,” stated President Steve Raffuel, “In recognition of the professionalism and market impact of the group we regularly receive the attention of top surety executives around the globe. 2019 was no exception.”
Featured executives included Robert Raney, Chief Underwriting Officer at Travelers, as well as Michael Fay, former Head of International and current Head of Contract Surety at Zurich. Both presented valuable sets of strategies and opportunities from their respective firms while touching on industry lessons learned from recent international defaults, support for growth countries and the value of data insights applied to their client underwriting approach.
Additional discussion topics included:
- New Member Capabilities – MDS Group & Rasher International Sureties
- Subcontractor Default Insurance vs Surety Bonds – Market overview & Claim activity
- Insurance Backed Bank Guarantees
- Innovations in Surety – New use cases
The business session concluded with an exchange of individual firm and continued cross border collaborative success stories solidifying the strength and value of this exclusive peer group.
Previous events have been held in New York City, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, Miami, Munich, Boston, Toronto and Italy.
Delegates in attendance included
- Assurance Agency (Chicago)
- Nielson Hoover (Florida)
- IMA Group (Colorado)
- Early Cassidy Schilling (Washington DC))
- Bowen, Miclette (Houston)
- Guy, Hurley (Detroit)
- Correcol (Colombia)
- MDS Corretora (Brazil, Portugal, Africa)
- Rasher International (Spain)
- PayneWest (Montana)
- Cavignac & Associates (California)
- Hilb of New England (New England)
- Petrela, Winters (Canada)
- Intertec (Mexico)
- Parker, Smith, Feek (Seattle)
- Raffuel Surety Group (New Jersey/New York)
About:
The Surety Alliance is an exclusive peer group of professional construction and commercial surety brokerages committed to pooling their knowledge and strengths among fellow members with a singular objective or providing service and depth of resources to clients. With members located in major money centers throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Africa and Europe, the strategic linking of our members ensures your surety needs will be managed with proficiency wherever they may arise.
