Co-Insurance Placement for Complex Risks
Collaborative risk distribution across multiple insurers, providing diversified capacity for large or complex risks that a single carrier cannot or should not hold alone.
What Co-Insurance Placement Is
Co-insurance distributes a single risk across several insurers, each taking an agreed share of the exposure and premium. Rather than one carrier holding the whole risk, the placement spreads it, making large or complex risks insurable on competitive terms.
Berkley RE arranges and manages co-insurance placements: building the right panel of insurers, agreeing each participant’s share, and coordinating the placement from slip to settlement.
For risks that are too large, too concentrated, or too specialised for a single insurer, co-insurance is how capacity is built.
Benefits of Co-Insurance Placement
Spreading a risk across a panel unlocks capacity and terms a single insurer cannot offer alone.
Diversified Capacity
Combine multiple insurers to cover risks beyond any single carrier's appetite.
Competitive Terms
Spreading risk encourages better pricing and broader cover.
Large & Complex Risks
Make high-value or unusual exposures insurable.
Shared Exposure
Each insurer holds only its agreed proportion of the risk.
Coordinated Management
One broker manages the panel, documentation, and claims.
Local & International Markets
Access capacity from both South African and global insurers.
When Co-Insurance Makes Sense
Co-insurance is the right mechanism wherever a single carrier cannot, or should not, hold the whole risk.
Above Single-Carrier Limits
Exposures larger than any one insurer's capacity or appetite.
Concentrated or Cat-Exposed
Risks with accumulation or catastrophe exposure best shared.
Specialised or Non-Standard
Unusual risks that need several specialist participants.
Building Competitive Capacity
Assembling a panel to secure better terms for the client.
How Berkley RE Arranges Co-Insurance
We manage the full placement, from structuring the risk to coordinating the panel through the life of the cover.
Risk Structuring
We assess the risk and define how it should be shared across a panel of insurers.
Panel Selection
We identify and approach the insurers best suited to participate in the placement.
Placement & Slips
We agree each participant’s share and document the placement clearly.
Ongoing Coordination
We manage endorsements, renewals, and claims across every insurer on the panel.
Co-Insurance Placement: Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions insurers and underwriting managers ask most often about sharing a risk through co-insurance.
What is co-insurance placement?
Co-insurance placement is the arrangement of a single risk across two or more insurers, each of which accepts an agreed percentage of the risk in return for the same percentage of the premium. One insurer usually acts as the lead, setting the terms that the others follow. It is used where a risk is too large or too complex for one insurer to carry alone, and it allows the insured to obtain full cover on consistent terms from a panel of insurers.
What is the difference between co-insurance and reinsurance?
In co-insurance, several insurers each insure a share of the risk directly, so the policyholder has a contractual relationship with every insurer on the panel. In reinsurance, the policyholder deals with one insurer, and that insurer separately transfers part of the risk to a reinsurer under a contract to which the policyholder is not a party. Co-insurance shares the risk at policy level, while reinsurance shares it behind the policy.
What does the lead insurer do?
The lead insurer takes the principal role in a co-insurance placement. It normally negotiates and sets the terms, conditions, and premium, issues or agrees the policy wording, and handles day-to-day administration and claims on behalf of the panel, in line with the agreement between the insurers. The following insurers accept those terms for their own shares. A capable lead is central to a co-insurance placement working smoothly, particularly when a claim arises.
What happens if one co-insurer cannot pay its share?
Co-insurers are generally liable only for their own agreed share of a loss, and not for the shares of the other insurers on the panel. If one insurer were unable to pay, the others would not usually be obliged to make up the shortfall. This is why the financial strength of every insurer on the panel matters, and why Berkley RE assesses the security of each participant when it structures a placement.
When is co-insurance used instead of facultative reinsurance?
Co-insurance suits risks where capacity needs to be built at policy level, or where the insured or its broker wants the risk spread across several insurers. Facultative reinsurance suits cases where one insurer wishes to issue the whole policy and then transfer part of the risk behind it. The two are often combined, with insurers on a co-insurance panel each buying facultative reinsurance to protect their own share.
Build Capacity With Co-Insurance Placement
For large, concentrated, or complex risks, Berkley RE assembles and manages the insurer panel that makes the risk placeable on competitive terms.
