With more than 100 years of experience, AF Group has grown intoone of the most respected and largest insurance providers in theU.S., conducting business through its four primary insurancebrands—Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, UnitedHeartland, CompWest Insurance Company and Third Coast Underwriters.Now they are introducing AF Specialty, offering partners a broadspectrum of fronting and captive solution capacity on a nationalplatform.

We sat down with Eric Halter and Keith Plummer of AF Group todiscuss this flexible new product.

What is AF Specialty?

Eric Halter: AF Specialty provides frontingservices to insurance carriers, managing general agents,reinsurance intermediaries and captive managers looking for afronting facility to place well-managed, turnkey commercialproperty and casualty programs.

Keith Plummer: And we offer this frontingservice backed by the collective strength of AF Group.This allows us to provide eligible partners with multiple entitiesof fronting paper that are rated “A-” (Excellent) by A.M. Best,which gives customers great options in terms of how they pricetheir programs.

What Makes AF Specialty… Special?

KP: We're different from other fronting carriers inour ability to take on underwriting risk on select accounts and dueto our limited channel conflict on most lines of business.

EH: Our flexibility is a big differentiator,too. We understand that not all deals are the same, so we want towork with clients to tailor the structure, contracts and collateralrequirements to meet each individual partner's needs. We're not aone-size-fits-all model.

Who are the Ideal Partners for AFSpecialty?

EH: AF Specialty is ideal for sophisticatedpartners who would benefit from insurance carrier paper rated'Excellent' by A.M. Best or for those who need paper with largecapital capacity due to AF Group's very solid balance sheet.

KP: We're also able to serve both onshore andoffshore captives, as well as syndicates who need or believe thatusing an admitted product could provide a strategic advantage.