Surety demand is outpacing banks' appetite to provide it. Corporates needing guarantees for cross-border infrastructure and public procurement are finding that bank guarantees and standby letters of credit come with growing constraints. Capital requirements, collateral demands, and tightening balance sheets have made those instruments harder to access.
Insurers have stepped into that gap, and specialist brokers are building dedicated infrastructure to serve it. BPL, the London-headquartered credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) broker, launched BPL Surety. The new business line places surety solutions for corporates and financial institutions with global guarantee requirements, staffed by five directors across Geneva, Paris, and London.
The surety market generated over US$20 billion in annual premium in 2025, according to AXA XL's Credit and Surety Market Survey 2025. That growth has been driven by new insurer entrants, broader product applications, and rising infrastructure investment. Surety bonds sit off balance sheet, without the collateral requirements of bank guarantees, a difference that has become attractive to corporates seeking to preserve liquidity.
BPL chief executive James Reynolds said the shift is visible in client behaviour. "Our clients are increasingly focused on diversifying sources of financial support, particularly as banks face growing balance sheet constraints," he said. "This is a clear opportunity to apply BPL's specialist expertise and market relationships to develop solutions that respond directly to those changing needs."
The launch follows BPL Re, a dedicated reinsurance division covering credit, political risk, and surety lines that BPL established in May. The two moves together reflect a deliberate expansion of BPL's surety capabilities across the placement and reinsurance stack.
Both new London appointments bring experience spanning underwriting and broking. Tom Parrott joins from Howden's surety team, where he led the UK domestic book before advancing to global corporate transactions and bank-collaborated structures. Danielle Upton brings over 12 years across surety underwriting and broking, most recently at Howden following eight years at QBE.
That dual background is relevant to where surety placement is heading. Brokers working on UK and European corporate mandates with international scope must navigate differing insurer appetites across jurisdictions. Fluency in how underwriters assess risk is what allows a broker to find workable terms across those markets.
BPL already held a position in surety through structures introduced from 2018, including margining guarantees and on-balance-sheet indemnity (OBSI) facilities. BPL Surety consolidates that activity with a specific focus on UK and European corporates operating internationally - a segment where, as the credit and political risk insurance market's recent track record shows, demand has continued to grow even as capacity in some areas remains constrained.
Surety has moved beyond its traditional base in construction and contract bonding, with applications now spanning renewable energy, international trade, and regulatory compliance. Underwriter appetite has widened to match. BPL Surety enters a market where Howden and other London brokers already run established surety desks within the specialist credit insurance space.
Navigating that market, and its varying insurer appetites, is increasingly a specialist task, as the structural shifts reshaping how political and credit risk insurance is placed continue to reshape the relationship between brokers, underwriters, and their corporate clients.
