Article: Ambiguity may be helpful for surplus lines organizations; Some firms do not want to be called broker or MGA.(NEWS)

Byline: ROBERTO CENICEROS

Surplus lines organizations often broker hard-to-place business for retail brokerage clients and underwrite coverage that admitted insurers decline.

So are they a broker or a managing general agent with an insurer's authority to bind coverage? When the answer is both, surplus lines companies sometimes try to avoid being tagged as one or the other.

"That's why a lot of people just call themselves "wholesalers' and just leave it up in the air, said Euclid Black, president of Henderson, Nev.-based Black/White Group, an MGA and wholesale broker.

"We call ourselves a wholesaler, which purposely avoids ...

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