20+ years of coverage negotiations (and the Lloyd’s program behind it)


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The LION Lloyd's Program for US Insurance Operations

Standard insurance policies aren't written for claims. They're written for arguments.

Most FI policies run 150-200 pages of deliberate ambiguity - language designed so lawyers can debate meanings, not so coverage responds clearly.

We've reviewed hundreds of these policies over two decades. The pattern is consistent: critical terms buried in endorsements, exclusions that contradict coverage grants, and provisions that only reveal their gaps when you're already in a claim.

Regional insurers, Mutuals, Insurtechs, and MGAs! You deserve better than coverage that requires litigation to interpret.

So we built something different.
Just for you.

A Lloyd's-backed manuscript form that replaces ambiguity with affirmation. Specifically for US insurance operations. Four generations of refinement. Twenty-plus carrier forms analyzed. Eight Lloyd's syndicates signed on.

The result protects you through three advantages: clarity that survives a claim, coverage that matches your actual operations, and coordination that prevents reinsurance conflicts.

If you're trading with us, here's why your worst day won't become a coverage dispute...

Clarity Eliminates Policy Chaos

Traditional policies force you to cross-reference constantly.

The master policy says one thing. Endorsement A modifies it. Exclusion B contradicts both. Amendment C changes everything again.

It's how policies get written when actuaries and coverage lawyers optimize for flexibility over clarity. The ambiguity becomes a feature, not a bug - for the carrier.

We went the opposite direction.

Our manuscript consolidates everything into 40 pages. One lead carrier writes all lines: D&O, E&O, EPL, and Fiduciary. General terms in one section. Coverage grants in another. You read it linearly, beginning to end, and know exactly what you have.

No endorsement flipping. No hunting through appendices. No discovering during a claim that two provisions contradict each other.

When we say "affirmative coverage," we mean language that responds clearly. The form is designed for the moment everything goes wrong, not for the shelf.

This clarity exists because we've earned the flexibility to write it ourselves. Lloyd's syndicates don't hand manuscript authority to brokers they don't trust. Twenty years of trading, reporting, and handling claims built the relationship capital that bought this structural innovation.

Coverage Protects What You Actually Do

Many policies define your operations, then exclude half of them.

The standard approach uses generic financial institution language - broad enough to technically apply, narrow enough to deny claims on technicalities. When the claim hits, you discover that the very services generating your revenue fall into exclusionary gaps.

We built our form from the opposite direction.

We start with the broadest possible professional services definition - the widest interpretation of what your operation actually does. Then we add specific coverage for your insurance company operations rather than accept generic exclusions.

One of our clients uses drones for claims adjusting. A standard aircraft exclusion would have created a coverage gap for a core operational function. We added a specific carve-back for claims handling and adjusting activities.

Four generations of iteration produced this precision.

We've analyzed over twenty of the main carrier forms for this class of business from London and the US, stripped out the problematic language, and kept only provisions that have proven reliable through actual claims. Every section has been reviewed by attorneys on both sides of the Atlantic, claims professionals, and the underwriters who back the form.

The notice provisions reflect this same philosophy.

We've structured response requirements that work for how claims actually develop - not theoretical reporting timelines that create technical denial opportunities. Lloyd's trusts our reporting process, which means your coverage responds when timing gets complicated.

These are just two examples of the May features and benefits of our program.

At LION, we beleive your policy should protect the business you're actually running, not the business generic forms assume you run.

Coordination Prevents Reinsurance Conflicts

Most policies treat your primary coverage and reinsurance as separate universes. They shouldn't be.

If your reinsurance treaty includes ECO/XPL coverage for bad faith claims, and your E&O policy covers similar exposures, you have a potential conflict. When a claim triggers both, you need clarity on which responds first, how limits stack, and where gaps might open between layers.

Standard policies ignore this entirely. The primary carrier writes their form. The reinsurer writes theirs. Nobody engineers the connection.

Our manuscript dovetails with reinsurance by design.

The form can sit excess of your reinsurance, dropping down for specific exposures like TPAs, MGAs, or co-insurance arrangements. Or we can structure it the other way - with your E&O sitting primary with our Lloyd's form catching the complex exposures that predictable coverage doesn't reach.

This flexibility is surgical because we k ow how to build both pieces together. We know how the reinsurance will respond, on a follow the fortunes basis, so we can design the primary coverage to complement rather than conflict.

For regional and mutual insurers, this unlocks capacity that would otherwise require navigating multiple carriers with misaligned forms. You get Lloyd's financial strength - A+ rated, 85% combined ratio - with the structural precision of coverage that actually coordinates.

The form scales from a complete primary program for a mutual insurer to a multi million tower when combined with your reinsurance with US markets stacked above. Same manuscript. Same clarity. Same coordination.

What Twenty Years Built

We've been trading with these Lloyd's syndicates for over two decades. Not just placing coverage - handling claims through market cycles, testing relationships when outcomes mattered most.

Eight syndicates back this form.

We know the underwriters personally. We know how they'll trade. We know how they'll handle your claim. The performance hasn't always been easy, but it's been fair.

That history is why the coverage terms exist at all. Manuscript authority, flexible notice provisions, specific operational carve-backs - none of this comes standard. It comes from trust built over hundreds of placements and countless claims.

The manuscript is the tool. The relationships are what make it work.

Want to see how your current program compares?

We'll run your existing D&O or E&O policy through the same line-by-line analysis we use with every client. You'll see exactly where standard language creates gaps and what Lloyd's-backed manuscript coverage delivers instead.

>>>Book a live policy comparison here.

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Stay Covered,

Natasha & Mark

Co-Founders and Managing Partners

LION Specialty


LION Specialty

Everything you need to know to navigate the financial institution insurance market in ≈ 5 minutes per week. Delivered on Fridays.

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