Surety Insurance

Posts Tagged ‘investing’

bond insurance
MIGA’s James Bond on the Political Risk Insurance Market

Are bond insurance companies regulated by the FDIC? If not, who regulates them?

Are bond insurance companies regulated by the FDIC?

As any insurance company they are regulated by the State insurance departments of the States in which they operate. Their is no national insurance commissioner as there is no national insurance charter (a much discussed subject in the insurance industry).

Moody’s Investor Services and Standard & Poor’s rate their financial strength but neither organization has regulatory power.

IT Staffing Agencies Need General Liability Insurance

IT staffing agencies are familiar with their clients’ requirements for insurance coverage, and know that they have to have the insurance to get the business. But you may wonder if all that coverage is really necessary. The good news is that in almost all cases, the insurance coverage your client requires can be both affordable and beneficial to your business.

Beyond finding a reputable insurance agency, staffing firms need to do their homework to reduce their liability in client dealings. Typically, clients want their IT recruitment agencies – as well as the information technology subcontractors those companies hire on their behalf – to carry some or all of the following four types of coverage:

General liability insurance

General liability insurance for IT staffing agencies covers damage to property or injury to people. Client companies often require all of their vendors – from plumbers  to IT staffing firms – to show proof of general liability insurance. In some cases, the mandate is driven by the client’s risk managers, who seek to reduce the company’s risk of financial loss due to lawsuits.

Any systems integrator you place on a job could accidentally damage hardware, cause a short or put a foot through a drop ceiling while pulling cable. Even a software developer, software engineer or programmer working at home could accidentally spill a drink on a laptop or drop a server in his or her possession.

When a client goes after one of your information technology subcontractors for compensation, you’re likely to be held responsible as well. IT staffing firms with liability insurance from a quality insurance agency are protected from the financial fallout that could result.

Professional liability insurance

Professional liability insurance for IT recruitment agencies is like malpractice insurance for these firms and the information technology service providers they place. Also known as E&O insurance, it protects your IT recruiting agency from liability arising from errors and omissions that you or your information technology subcontractors may make on the job. Clients require it because they know that people make mistakes.

Your client’s greatest risk in hiring you is that your mistakes could spawn a lawsuit or financial loss. For example, if your staffing firm places an information technology subcontractor on a job, and that individual makes a mistake that wipes out hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of client data, your client can claim the error was your fault and expect you to compensate the company. Without liability insurance, IT staffing agencies can expect costs to mount quickly.

Having professional liability insurance for IT staffing agencies just makes sense. Without it, IT staffing firms are liable for legal defense costs if their clients make claims against them and for settlement costs if a court finds them at fault. A misunderstanding may be all it takes to get sued. Once a client alleges negligence and communications break down, your legal expenses begin to grow.

Workers’ compensation insurance

Some states require companies to carry workers’ compensation insurance, while others don’t. If your client’s company is based in a state that requires it, your IT recruiting firm will probably be asked to carry it, even if your own home state does not mandate it.

Why? In some states, your client will be forced to cover you with its own workers’ compensation policy if you or your employees get injured on the job. Also, in some states, your client’s insurance carrier can bill your client for coverage for all subcontractors who don’t provide their own certificate of coverage. Both result in higher premiums for your client.

Workers’ compensation insurance covers medical costs as well as disability and compensation, should you or one of your employees get hurt on the job. If you’re a solo IT professional with your own health staffing insurance, workers’ compensation insurance may be redundant – but you may still need it to get the work.

If your IT recruitment agency does have employees, protecting them with workers’ compensation insurance is a smart thing to do. From carpal tunnel syndrome to a slick break room floor, any number of on-the-job hazards could jeopardize your employees’ health or take them away from their jobs. Workers’ compensation coverage ensures that your employees are taken care of and saves your company any expenses arising from their ongoing care.

Working with a reputable insurance agency, IT staffing firms can secure the right coverage to meet client and state requirements.

Fidelity bond coverage

Often described as employee dishonesty coverage, this type of insurance compensates your client if you or your IT staffing firm’s employees steal money or property on the job. If your IT staffing firm places an information technology service provider who turns out to be less than honest, you’re just as likely to be held accountable as the person who does the deed.

Clients in the banking and financial services industries typically want programmers, software engineers, software developers and system integrators to carry fidelity bond insurance from a reputable insurance agency because they’re entrusting them with sensitive information, such as customer account numbers, and personal information, such as Social Security numbers.

If your staffing firm has information technology subcontractors handling valuable property or customer information – even though you trust them – keep in mind that anything could happen. Computer equipment could disappear, or a programmer could obtain banking customers’ account numbers and passwords to steal from their accounts. If that happens, fidelity bond insurance for IT staffing firms compensates your client for the missing money or property.

By contacting a quality insurance agency, IT recruitment agencies can learn more about fidelity bond insurance and how much coverage is best.

annuity insurance

Insurance – A Plan For Your Future

In order to lead a livable life, you would need to balance between your investments and the money that you would require to run your daily life. This is the concern of most of the investors. Most of the investment options available today allow fund growth for your retirement, or the investment is made for a definite period of time in the future. Yet there is one type of investment which allows fund availability not only for your future, but also the present. This is what is split annuity insurance.

You set up an annuity with an insurance company by signing a contract. This offers you with cash funds on an on-going basis, or tax-deferred retirement income. Annuities are of different kinds, and they include:

* Immediate annuities.

* Tax-deferred annuities.

* Split annuities

* Charitable gift annuities.

* College gift annuities.

You are offered with different kinds of benefits for each of the annuities stated above, and the features offered by the annuities can help your personal situation in many ways. In investing in such annuities you must be of young age and looking for fund availability in the future or you are close to retirement and you would opt for immediate income.

In split annuity, you pay a single premium which is divided into two parts, one for the immediate annuity and the other for your deferred annuity. Thus your single premium is broken up into the two benefits that you will be receiving. This type of an annuity is termed as split annuity. The single premium that you pay is a combination of both the benefits. Under this annuity scheme you start to receive a steady stream of cash that is consistent and made available to you in the period of time agreed, which may be quarterly, semiannually, or annually. This is a safe transaction and is guaranteed, and does not depend upon the market conditions. Taxes on this cash that you get are about 18% of the yearly amount, and therefore it is quite minimal for any large differences.

You also receive tax benefits under the split annuity scheme, which comes out of your tax-deferred annuity portion of your policy. This allows you to earn tax-deferred growth on your earnings. The initial interest rate of return will be fixed for a fixed period of time, such as, one year or three years, after which a new period is set. With a proper planning, and with a suitable configuration of your policy, your original principal is restored after the initial time period which has been set in your policy. You will be able to do this only on the immediate portion of your annuity and not the deferred one. As soon as you take out the policy, you start on the interest rate that is prevailing at that time. In split annuity you are restricted to receive the benefit of constant stream of cash for three to 20 years. You can take out funds from your deferred payment portion of the annuity, but this has limitations. In this regard you would need to consult your insurance company to get more details.

How safe are insurance fixed annuities during this turmois on Wall Street.?

I have 3 fixed annuitys through a highly rated insurance company. Are they as affected by this wall street fallout as the banks are. I know the monies are not FDIC protected so I’m a little concerned about whether or not I will lose my monies. Do they have any kind of backup protection outside FDIC?

Find your paperwork. Some of these financial firms have way much more coverage than just the FDIC. For example, brokers can insure you up to one million, through extra insurance they purchase.
Time to read or give them a call.