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FAQs

Frequently asked questions for the Binding Authority Registration system.

These questions have been tailored to common queries we receive from the market. If your question is unable to be answered please contact your devolved administrator in the first instance.

A: Binding authority agreements are contracts which set out the scope of delegated authority and so allow coverholders to enter into contracts of insurance and to issue insurance documents on behalf of Lloyd's managing agents. Binding authorities are registered online on the Binding Authority Registration (BAR) website.

A: In each Lloyd’s Broker and Managing Agent there is a super user called a devolved administrator. The devolved administrator is able to appoint new ATLAS, BAR or Secure Store users for their organisation and decide whether that user has read-write or read-only access. The user credential error message appears when a user's account is not set up correctly.

The devolved administrator needs to edit the user’s account to decide the access type for each Broker code. For more information on devolved administrators, including the guide for editing users’ accounts, please see Devolved Administrators.

A: A binding authority can only be renewed once on BAR. Once it has been renewed the option is taken away. If you cannot renew a binding authority this is the most likely reason.

To find out if your binding authority has been renewed, view the registration on BAR and look under Coverholder Registration Status. If the binder has been renewed there will be a Renewed to field with a date and number.

Searching on that date and number will take you to your renewed binding authority.

Service companies are allowed to sub-delegate their underwriting to a Lloyd’s Coverholder in the same way that the Managing Agent  can. Also, a Managing Agent  may appoint an approved Coverholder to manage a Coverholder through a master binding authority. There is a particular way to register these arrangements on BAR.

The Add Coverholder function can be used to add more than one Coverholder to a binding authority registration. Where there is more than one Coverholder a new question will need to be answered on the route of business.

For a binding authority with multiple Coverholders but coming straight into London the registration should say Direct to Underwriter.

For Coverholders sub-delegated to by a service company the registration should say Via the service company.

For Coverholders managed under a master Coverholder arrangement the registration should say Via the master Coverholder.

For more information on master binders please refer to the Code of Practice for Delegated Underwriting.

When a Broker changes mid term on a live binding authority there are a few steps to take in order to ensure correct registration with Lloyd’s:

  1. The expiring Broker must cancel their registration with the cancellation reason of Transferred to another Broker from inception.
  2. The new Broker must then register a new binding authority on BAR
  3. The UMR should be the same throughout the duration of the contract. The new Broker should not issue a new UMR.
  4. The paper contract will need to be endorsed and this will need to be signed by all the subscription market and FDO at XIS.

Please note: This process is not needed for brokers taking over any run off.

For more information see the Mid Term Broker change implementation guide. This process is not needed for Brokers taking over any run off.

For treaty reinsurance the binder should be registered using the treaty risk codes.

For facultative reinsurance the direct risk codes should be used with Reinsurance (worldwide) named as a non-territory specific business under the territories section. The territorial approval for the region where the reinsurance is being accepted from is not needed.

Approval for all classes should be sought from Lloyd’s before the slip is prepared, so for Coverholders who are not approved for reinsurance, a class of business extension will need to be requested on ATLAS.

Binding Authority Registration

When registering the binding authority for Reinsurance, it should be named in two areas:

  1. General Details
    • Insurance or Reinsurance - Reinsurance or Both (Reinsurance and Insurance) should be selected.
  2. Territories
    • Territory source - Own domicile and other territories or Other Territories Only.
    • This allows a selection under non-territory specific business.
    • Non-territory specific business - Re-Insurance should be selected.

This will specifically allow for the registration of Reinsurance only. All other classes, territories etc. should be registered as usual.

Requesting an extension for Reinsurance (Worldwide)

If you cannot select reinsurance under Non-territory specific business, then the Coverholder is not approved to write reinsurance business. This is true regardless of what can be selected under General Details.

An extension to the Coverholder’s permissions to include reinsurance is done via ATLAS

Reinsurance (Worldwide) is a class of business on Atlas and supporting information will need to be provided. As well as the standard supporting information requested on Atlas itself, the sponsoring Managing Agent should also confirm whether the reinsurance is:

  • Facultative or Treaty
  • (Re)insurance of what class(es)

Territory approval

As reinsurance is considered to be a non-territory specific class of business the Coverholder will not need the corresponding territorial approval. For example, a US Coverholder reinsuring a risk in Canada will not need a regional approval for Canada.

The territory will need to be named for direct business as listed on Crystal.

Territories are approved by regions. For more information please see post approval changes

For further details please refer to the document below.

Reinsurance Worldwide