MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
“Why? The why for the SLA is maintaining a healthy, fair and competitive marketplace.”
Benjamin McKay
CEO & Executive Director, SLA
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth A Pound of Cure
One of the three superordinate goals that guide the SLA is 100% compliance. This aspirational goal is of the highest importance because if our industry is fully compliant with all applicable laws and regulatory requirements, we believe that a healthy, fair and competitive surplus lines insurance marketplace will naturally be the result.
This is why in 2023, we chose to focus on our membership rather than simply analyzing policies for compliance. We instituted our Member Value Program—another of our three superordinate goals—by which we assigned each of our most productive brokerages to specific data teams, who will work with them and their filers and, we hope, begin identifying potential compliance issues before we even receive an incorrect filing. It is far more efficient for everybody involved if we catch filing errors before they happen than correcting them after they occur.
It is more important to stay ahead of compliance issues than ever. In 2023, our data analysis team analyzed 946,000 filings, a record for surplus lines filings in California. Going forward, we anticipate receiving more than 1 million filings in 2024. That is a lot of cleanup on the back end, for both our team and our members’ filing teams, if we do not catch errors up front.
In addition to the Member Value Program, we instituted a new, shorter and more efficient Diligent Search Report (SL-2 form) at the end of 2023. This will ease the process for filers and, we hope, also result in fewer errors.
Ultimately, this more efficient process, based on building relationships with our members, will result in a more compliant surplus lines marketplace, which in turn provides regulators with confidence that our industry is functioning as it is supposed to function. This makes for a better regulatory environment and enables our members to do business more efficiently and effectively—and that is what we are here at the SLA to facilitate.
As we head into 2024, I wish all of our members, stakeholders, employees and friends a successful year.
Sincerely,
Benjamin J. McKay, J.D., M.P.A.
CEO and Executive Director
Surplus Line Association of California
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE
One of the three superordinate goals that guide the SLA is 100% compliance. This aspirational goal is of the highest importance because if our industry is fully compliant with all applicable laws and regulatory requirements, we believe that a healthy, fair and competitive surplus lines insurance marketplace will naturally be the result.
This is why in 2023, we chose to focus on our membership rather than simply analyzing policies for compliance. We instituted our Member Value Program—another of our three superordinate goals—by which we assigned each of our most productive brokerages to specific data teams, who will work with them and their filers and, we hope, begin identifying potential compliance issues before we even receive an incorrect filing. It is far more efficient for everybody involved if we catch filing errors before they happen than correcting them after they occur.
It is more important to stay ahead of compliance issues than ever. In 2023, our data analysis team analyzed 946,000 filings, a record for surplus lines filings in California. Going forward, we anticipate receiving more than 1 million filings in 2024. That is a lot of cleanup on the back end, for both our team and our members’ filing teams, if we do not catch errors up front.
In addition to the Member Value Program, we instituted a new, shorter and more efficient Diligent Search Report (SL-2 form) at the end of 2023. This will ease the process for filers and, we hope, also result in fewer errors.
Ultimately, this more efficient process, based on building relationships with our members, will result in a more compliant surplus lines marketplace, which in turn provides regulators with confidence that our industry is functioning as it is supposed to function. This makes for a better regulatory environment and enables our members to do business more efficiently and effectively—and that is what we are here at the SLA to facilitate.
As we head into 2024, I wish all of our members, stakeholders, employees and friends a successful year.
Sincerely,
Benjamin J. McKay, J.D., M.P.A.
CEO and Executive Director
Surplus Line Association of California