It’s Time to PROMOTE OUR PRODUCT

I regularly receive calls or e-mails asking me what NASBP is doing to protect our product. NASBP and each of us as surety professionals spend a considerable amount of time and energy explaining our product and defending it from attacks on many fronts. I can assure you NASBP will continue to respond when and where we can make an impact. However, it is time we take the initiative to promote our product instead of waiting and responding to attacks or to new products that challenge our industry and our livelihood.

The fact is, we have a great product that has worked well for over 100 years and, given the recent economic downturn, both the product and the services of a true surety professional are more valuable today than any time that I can recall in my 35 years in the industry. We see construction clients and public and private owners place huge value on safety and willing to spend millions on safety programs with the hope that they never have an insurance claim. These clients and owners recognize the importance of factors, such as experience modifiers and other safety data as they are included as part of bidder qualifications, yet these same clients and owners question why surety bonds are needed when claims are so rare. Simply put, they question the value they receive for their dollars.

The answer is simple: surety is the best loss control program around and is the ultimate financial safety program. For public owners, the surety product transfers the risk of unqualified bidders entering the process. For private owners and general contractors, the surety product is in essence the contractor’s safety program that protects its balance sheet. Unlike many other methods that are out there, the surety industry backs its guarantees with real dollars and expertise that simply cannot be matched.

We all know this in our hearts, but it’s time to tell our story. As I said, NASBP will continue to promote, protect, and respond, but when it comes from you, the individuals that live and work in each of your communities, the impact is much greater.

In order to help us all and to encourage many more to get involved, NASBP will begin work on developing additional support material that can be used to explain our product and to help us promote surety and remind them of the value that surety professionals add to the process. Discussions also are underway with the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) on updating the many resources that are currently available from the Surety Information Office (SIO) www.sio.org. Other resources are available at www.nasbp.org and www.suretylearn.org.

Lastly, we are looking for your success stories that you can share with others to help and to encourage activism. We are working on breathing new life into the Tiger Trust, which many may not even remember as a joint effort of NASBP and SFAA to recognize extraordinary efforts by individuals to promote and to protect our product. You will hear more about this effort in the near future.

At the end of the day, NASBP can and will do all it can to help…but whether we are producers or underwriters…This is our industry and our livelihood, and nobody can tell our story better. So let’s all recommit to this business every day and rather than just react and defend. Let’s promote our industry.

Thanks again to everyone for allowing me the honor of leading this great organization this year. I hope everyone had a great summer and look forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming regional meetings.

Thomas M. Padilla is Senior Vice President of HUB International Insurance Services, Albuquerque, NM. He can be reached at Tom.Padilla@hubinternational.com.