THE E&S marketplace is a valuable tool for most independent agents and brokers. Indeed, American Agent & Broker's annual reader survey consistently shows that nearly 90% of the magazine's recipients regularly work with E&S carriers, primarily through surplus-lines brokers and MGAs.

To learn more about how agents and brokers use the E&S marketplace, we recently contacted a number of them, ranging from relatively small agencies to those in Business Insurance's list of the country's 100 largest brokers. Among other things, they told us what sorts of risks they're placing with nonadmitted carriers these days, how the hardening market for catastrophe-prone risks and the softening market for many others kinds of business are affecting their use of E&S markets, and what they see as the advantages and drawbacks of working with MGAs, surplus-lines brokers and E&S insurers. Their comments follow.

Bill Russell
Bill Russell Insurance Agency
Austin, Texas