It’s Pig Iron Below Water!

This put up is a part of a sequence sponsored by Previous Republic Surety.

To a few of my fellow insurance coverage professionals, the surety enterprise has all the time had an aura about it. Maybe it’s the unique language we use referring to “Obligee’s” and “Principals”. Possibly it’s the surety underwriter’s potential to shortly unlock the secrets and techniques of a consumer’s monetary assertion and translate a web page of numbers to feedback of reward or questions of concern.

It’s true that easy, clearer language can break down boundaries and make writing surety enterprise extra comfy for some. In recent times I’ve seen a motion in altering utility and bond type language to seek advice from the Obligee merely because the “Proprietor” and exchange the phrase principal with “Contractor”. We have to eschew obfuscation. I imply, keep away from overly sophisticated phrases.

One among my favourite idioms used within the surety enterprise got here immediately from the insurance coverage trade. We are going to typically obtain a submission the place the agent has written clearly on the high of the submission “PIUW“. This stands for Pig Iron Below Water. This outdated section comes from the early days of fireside insurance coverage. Pig Iron is an intermediate product of the iron trade, often known as crude iron. When Iron ingots are made (these are used to make Ductile Iron pipe, for example) they break off molten items of the iron off the runner (often called the sow) into water to chill. The cooling ingots type right into a form that appears like a child pig, thus the title pig iron. The purpose of the assertion is that Iron is taken into account comparatively inflammable (It melts at 1200 levels Celsius). Now put iron beneath water, and by way of a hearth threat, you will have in regards to the most secure threat there’s. So pig iron beneath water is a technique to signify a positive factor. A protected wager. It’s cash within the financial institution. It’s the absence of threat.

In fact one individual’s pig iron beneath water will be one other individual’s oily rags within the nook on a scorching day. This is the reason we now have underwriters to make that dedication.

We consider surety must be accessible to everybody and we’re prepared that will help you translate the following alternative into enterprise fortune. So you probably have a development consumer that wants a efficiency and fee bond or you probably have business surety want or query, contact us and we’ll assist you along with your surety wants.

This weblog was initially printed on the Previous Republic Surety web site. It’s reproduced right here with permission.