London Surety’s Surety and Bonds Team is led by Tony Gower. Tony has 40 years’ experience in the Lloyd’s and London Broker Marketplace with 15 years’ experience providing all types of Surety and Bonds for clients in Europe and Worldwide.

Surety Bonds provide protection to Employers’, both public and private, against Contractors’ and service providers’ inability to fulfil contractual obligations, usually as the result of financial failure. London Surety work with those Contractors and service providers to offer a wide range of Surety Bonds, including Bid Bonds, Advanced Payment Bonds, Performance Bonds, Retention and Maintenance Bonds to mitigate those risks and concerns and guarantee performance.

Example: A Contractor may be required to obtain a Performance Bond to be issued in favour of an Employer for whom the Contractor is constructing a building project. Should the Contractor default on the Contract specifications of the building project (most often due to the bankruptcy or insolvency of the Contractor) the Employer is guaranteed compensation for any monetary loss up to the value amount of the Performance Bond.

Benefits of Surety Bonds:
• Viable alternative to Bank Guarantee or Letters of Credit;
• Improves the Contractors’ liquidity by freeing up working capital (overdraft facility);
• Opens up tender opportunities;
• Transfers the Employers’ risk of a Contractors’ default to a Surety.

To provide quotations we will require the following information:
• Application forms to be completed and signed by the applicant/Contractor;
Click General Company Information Form and Bond Application Form to download our forms;
• Contractors’ most recent YE audited financials plus management accounts if audit is older than 6 months;
• Copy of draft or signed Works Contract, and
• Proposed Bond Form.

An Indemnity Agreement (or Corporate County Indemnity) will be required from the Contractor to hold the Surety harmless and indemnify for losses that may arise under Bonds issued by the Surety at the request of the Employer. The principal indemnitor is typically the parent/ holding company and the subsidiary Contractors requiring the Bond and is required on a joint and several basis. Additional collateral in the form of a cash deposit held in escrow or Personal Guarantees from the beneficial Directors may be required by the Surety to support certain risks.

Tony has developed a solid professional reputation in the Surety market which has gained him access to all the major Surety Bond providers in the UK and Worldwide.

In addition to Surety Bonds required by the Construction Industry, we can provide Surety capacity support for bespoke needs. In territories where a Surety Bond is required to be issued by a local regulated insurer or the size of the Bond exceeds the local insurers’ underwriting capacity or appetite, we can provide facultative reinsurance. Our experienced Bond reinsurer markets can assist with the underwriting for those Bonds that local insurers are not totally comfortable with or lack the Bond underwriting experience.