RLI Profile
RLI Corp., through its subsidiaries, underwrites select property, casualty and surety products.
The company operates through major subsidiaries collectively known as RLI Insurance Group. The company conducts operations through three insurance companies. RLI Insurance Company (RLI Ins.), a subsidiary of the company and its principal insurance subsidiary, writes multiple lines of insurance on an admitted basis in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. Mt. Hawley Insurance Company (Mt. Hawley), a subsidiary of RLI Ins., writes excess and surplus lines insurance on a non-admitted basis in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. Contractors Bonding and Insurance Company (CBIC), a subsidiary of RLI Ins., writes multiple lines of insurance on an admitted basis in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
As a specialty insurance company with a niche focus, the company offers insurance coverages in the specialty admitted and excess and surplus markets. The company distributes its property, casualty and surety products through locations across the country that market to wholesale and retail brokers, independent agents and carrier partners. The company offers limited coverages on a direct basis to select insureds, as well as various reinsurance coverages. From time to time, the company also writes a limited amount of business under agreements with managing general agents under the direction of its product leadership.
Segments
The company operates through Casualty, Property and Surety segments.
Casualty segment
The casualty portion of the company’s business consists largely of commercial excess, personal umbrella, general liability, transportation and management liability coverages, as well as package business and other specialty coverages, such as professional liability and workers’ compensation for office-based professionals. The company also assumes a limited amount of hard-to-place risks through a quota share reinsurance agreement.
Commercial Excess and Personal Umbrella
The company’s commercial excess coverage is written in excess of primary liability insurance provided by other carriers and, in some cases, in excess of primary liability written by it. The personal umbrella coverage is generally written in excess of homeowners’ and automobile liability coverage provided by other carriers.
Commercial Transportation
The company’s transportation insurance provides commercial automobile liability and physical damage insurance to local, intermediate and long-haul truckers, public transportation entities and other types of specialty commercial automobile risks. The company also offers incidental related insurance coverages, including general liability, excess liability and motor truck cargo. The company produces business through independent agents and brokers nationwide.
General Liability
The company’s general liability business consists primarily of coverage for third-party liability of commercial insureds, including manufacturers, contractors, apartments and mercantile. The company also offers coverages for security guards and environmental liability for underground storage tanks, contractors and asbestos and environmental remediation specialists.
Professional Services
The company offers professional liability coverages focused on providing errors and omission coverage for small to medium-sized design, technical, computer and other miscellaneous professionals. The company’s product suite for these customers also includes a full array of multi-peril package products including general liability, property, automobile, excess liability and workers’ compensation coverages. This business primarily markets its products through specialty retail agents nationwide.
Small Commercial
The company’s small commercial business offers property and casualty insurance coverages for small to mid-sized contractors. The coverages included in these packages are predominantly general liability, but also have some inland marine coverages, as well as commercial automobile, property and excess coverage. These products are primarily marketed through retail agents.
Executive Products
The company provides a suite of management liability coverages, such as directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance, fiduciary liability, employment practice liability and fidelity coverages, for a variety of risk classes, including both public and private businesses. The company’s publicly traded D&O appetite generally focuses on offering excess Side A D&O coverage (where corporations cannot indemnify the individual directors and officers) as well as excess full coverage D&O.
Other Casualty
The company offers a variety of other smaller products in its casualty segment, including home business insurance, which provides limited liability and property coverage for a variety of small business owners who work from their own home. The company has a quota share reinsurance agreement with Prime Insurance Company and Prime Property and Casualty Insurance Inc., the two insurance subsidiaries of Prime Holdings Insurance Services, Inc. (Prime). Through its reinsurance agreement with Prime, the company assumes general liability, excess, commercial auto, property and professional liability coverages on hard-to-place risks that are written in the excess and surplus and admitted insurance markets. Separately, the company assumes mortgage reinsurance, which provides credit risk transfer on pools of mortgages. The company also offers general liability and package coverages through a general binding authority (GBA) group, a program in which select surplus lines producers are granted limited underwriting authority through its on-line system to bind business on behalf of the company.
Property segment
The company’s Property segment consists primarily of commercial fire, hurricane, earthquake, difference in conditions and marine coverages. The company also offers homeowners’ coverages in Hawaii.
Commercial Property
The company’s commercial property coverage consists primarily of excess and surplus lines and specialty insurance such as fire, earthquake, wind and difference in conditions (DIC), which can include earthquake, flood and collapse coverages. The company provides insurance for a wide range of commercial and industrial risks, such as office buildings, apartments, condominiums, builders’ risks and certain industrial and mercantile structures.
Marine
The company’s marine coverages include cargo, hull, protection and indemnity, marine liability, as well as inland marine coverages, including builders’ risks and contractors’ equipment. Although the predominant exposures are located within the United States, there is some incidental international exposure written within these coverages.
Other Property
The company offers specialized homeowners’ and dwelling fire insurance through retail agents in Hawaii, as well as property coverages through its general binding authority group.
Surety segment
The surety segment specializes in writing small to medium-sized contract surety coverages, including payment and performance bonds. The company offers a variety of commercial surety bonds for medium to large-sized businesses across a broad spectrum of industries, including the financial, healthcare, as well as onshore and offshore energy, petrochemical and refining industries. The company also offers a variety of transactional bonds including, but not limited to license and permit, notary and court bonds. Often, the company’s surety coverages involve a statutory requirement for bonds.
Commercial
The company offers a variety of commercial surety bonds for medium to large-sized businesses across a broad spectrum of industries, including the financial, healthcare, as well as onshore and offshore energy, petrochemical and refining industries. These risks are underwritten on an account basis and coverage is marketed through a select number of regional and national brokers with surety expertise.
Transactional
The company’s transactional surety coverage includes small bonds for businesses and individuals written through independent insurance agencies throughout the United States. Examples of these types of bonds are license and permit, notary and court bonds. The underwriting and delivery of these bonds is highly automated.
Contract
The company offers bonds for small to medium-sized contractors throughout the United States, underwritten on an account basis. Typically, these are performance and payment bonds that guarantee commercial contractors’ contractual obligations for a specific construction project. These bonds are marketed through a select number of insurance agencies that have surety and construction expertise. The company also offers bonds for small and emerging contractors that are reinsured through the Federal Small Business Administration.
Marketing and Distribution
The company distributes its coverages across the country, primarily through wholesale and retail brokers, independent agents and carrier partners.
Brokers
The largest volume of broker-generated premium is in the company’s commercial property, general liability, commercial surety, executive products, commercial excess and commercial transportation coverages. This business is produced through independent wholesale and retail brokers.
Independent Agents
The company targets classes of insurance, such as homeowners’ and dwelling fire, home business, surety and personal umbrella through independent agents. Several of these products involve detailed eligibility criteria, which are incorporated into strict underwriting guidelines and prequalification of each risk using a system accessible by the independent agent. The independent agent cannot bind the risk unless they receive approval from the company’s underwriters or through its automated systems.
Carrier Partners
The company partners with other insurance carriers for home business and personal umbrella. The carriers place the business with the company through their associated agencies when the underlying risk does not meet their underwriting appetite.
Underwriting Agents
The company contracts with certain underwriting agencies, which have limited authority to bind or underwrite business on its behalf. The underwriting agreements involve strict underwriting guidelines and the agents are subject to regular audits.
Digital and Direct
The company utilizes digital efforts to produce and efficiently process and service business, including home business, general binding authority, small commercial and personal umbrella risks and surety bonding. On a direct basis, the company also assumes premium on various reinsurance treaties.
Licenses and Trademarks
The company holds a U.S. federal service mark registration of its corporate name RLI and several other company service marks and trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Competition
The company’s primary competitors in the casualty segment include AIG, Arch, Aspen, Beazley, Berkley, Chubb, CNA, Great American, Great West, Hartford, Hudson, James River, Kinsale, Lancer, Liberty, Markel, Protective, RSUI, Sompo, Travelers, USLI and Zurich. Primary competitors in the property segment include AmRisc, Arch, Arrowhead, CNA, Golden Bear, Lexington, Liberty Mutual, Markel, Palomar, RSUI, Special Risk Underwriters, Travelers, Velocity and Westchester. Primary competitors in the surety segment are AIG, Arch, Beazley, Berkley, Chubb, CNA, Great American, Hartford, Intact, Liberty Mutual, Markel, Merchants, Philadelphia, Sompo, Swiss Re, Travelers and Zurich.
History
RLI Corp., an Illinois corporation, was founded in 1965. The company was incorporated in 1965.
