Authorized or Unauthorized Insurer

Authorized or Unauthorized Insurer

An authorized insurer is licensed in a state. The license document is typically called a certificate of authority. As pertaining to surplus line, every state has certain surplus line insurers approved to do business in the non-admitted market or surplus line market in that state. An approved surplus line insurer is considered “unauthorized” because it has not been issued a certificate of authority. However, there are a few states (IL) that will issue a certificate of authority for a surplus line insurer to act as a non-admitted insurer only. For Broker Responsibility states, no non-admitted insurers are approved as this is placed solely under the responsibility of the surplus line broker to determine if the insurer meets the minimum financial requirements per the state statutes.

 

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