With the high rate of mortgage failures and foreclosures, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has been on overdrive protecting bank depositors by selling off distressed assets. These assets need to be properly insured, yet in the crush of deal making, insurance often is the last thing on anyone's mind.
In one recent case, the bank client of a Midwest insurance agent had negotiated with the FDIC and was about to complete the purchase of a book of properties worth more than $400 million when the bank realized it needed insurance at once--yesterday if possible.
To further complicate matters, all the property was in other states. Placing this book of properties quickly seemed like a Herculean task, but the agent had worked with Burns & Wilcox in the past and knew just what to do.
A quick call to his Burns & Wilcox contact started the ball rolling. Within 24 hours the insurance was settled and the bank deal could go through without a hitch.
"We are a flat organization that empowers its people," says Burns & Wilcox Chief Underwriting Officer David Price. "There was no waiting for a committee to meet or a bureaucratic sign-off to proceed. We saw what we needed to do and we quickly unleashed the power of our London relationships to get it done."
While this may be unusual service in the insurance industry, "it is not really unusual for us," says Marla Donovan, Vice President of Product Development at Burns & Wilcox. "This is what we do."
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