THE FINANCIAL condition of a carrier should be as important to you and your clients as a company's coverages, limits, premium and customer satisfaction ratings. If an insurer's ability to honor its commitments is doubtful, then its policy is not worth much. Furthermore, you can be sure that if a financially distressed carrier fails to meet its obligations to an insured, the insured will look to you. The consequences could be severe, because the typical insurance agents errors and omissions insurance policy contains an insolvency exclusion that bars coverage for claims arising from an insurer's financial failure. Therefore, you should do your best to ensure your carriers are in good financial condition. You also should notify your clients of your insurers' ratings, along with the other information you routinely provide them.

Checking the report card

Determining an insurer's financial strength is fairly easy. Best's (www.ambest.com), Moody's (www. moodys.com), Standard & Poor's (www.standardandpoors.com) and Fitch Ratings (www.fitchratings.com), among other organizations, provide ratings. Check at least two of these sources for ratings on the carriers you recommend to your insureds.