Beazley vs Cowbell: How Do They Compare for Management Liability Insurance?

Cowbell's product targets private companies with under 250 employees and is reached only through appointed Zurich E&S wholesalers, not sold directly; Beazley ExecuGuard is marketed to private organizations, with limits up to US $20 million.

Private organizations seeking D&O, EPL and fiduciary with up to $20 million can consider Beazley; smaller firms can access Cowbell’s crime-inclusive Select Plus only through an appointed wholesaler. ^1,^2,³

What Are the Key Differences Between Beazley and Cowbell Management Liability Insurance?

Published $20 Million Limits vs Small-Company Package via Wholesalers

Beazley writes ExecuGuard for private organizations, with combined limits up to $20 million, and lists regional Executive Risk underwriters your broker can contact. Cowbell is the quoting platform for Zurich Select Plus, which Zurich issues, for private companies under 250 employees and $50 million in assets in listed industries. You can't buy Select Plus from Cowbell yourself; only wholesale brokers appointed by Zurich can quote it, and neither Cowbell nor Zurich publishes its limits. Choose Beazley if you're larger or need a known high limit; choose Cowbell if you're a small company under those caps and your broker has wholesale access. ¹ ² ³

Three Coverages vs Four Modules Including Crime

ExecuGuard's three coverages are D&O, EPL and fiduciary. Select Plus has four modules you can combine: Private Management and Company Liability, Employment Practices and Third-Party Discrimination Liability, Fiduciary Liability, and Crime Insurance. If you need crime cover for employee theft or fraud, Select Plus includes it and ExecuGuard doesn't. ¹ ³

Counsel Panel and HR Tools vs Faster Issuance

ExecuGuard includes an approved defense-counsel panel and BeazleySure resources. Cowbell says it quotes and issues Select Plus faster than Zurich's standard process, Zurich handles claims, and EPL is the most common claim type. ¹ ²

What Should You Confirm in Beazley and Cowbell Management Liability Insurance Quotes?

Ask your broker whether it's an appointed Zurich wholesaler; if not, Select Plus is out of reach. ²
Check your headcount and assets against Cowbell's under-250-employee and $50 million caps. ²
Ask Cowbell for limits and retentions by module, and ask Beazley how the $20 million is shared across its three coverages. ³ ¹
Ask for the issuing company on each policy, whether it's admitted (with state guaranty-fund protection) or surplus lines, and who assigns defense counsel. ² ¹

Beazley vs Cowbell Management Liability Insurance Compared

Beazley vs Cowbell: Management Liability Insurance: documented features by provider

Criteria	Beazley ExecuGuard	Cowbell / Zurich Select Plus Management Liability
Who It’s For	ExecuGuard is marketed to private organizations rather than public companies. Beazley's separate D&O, EPL and fiduciary product pages describe more specific eligibility details for each individual coverage that are not restated on the combined ExecuGuard page itself. ¹Company-reported. ExecuGuard page as a package; component-level eligibility (e.g. EPL's employee-count guidance) appears on the corresponding single-line offering pages, not this one.	Cowbell says the product targets SME private companies with under 250 employees and under $50M in assets, and lists target industries including specialty chemicals, technology, energy/utilities, construction, manufacturing, hospitality, retail, and integrated freight & logistics. ²Company-reported. FAQ 'What size accounts are targeted?' and 'Target industries' list.
How to Apply	The ExecuGuard page does not describe a self-service online quoting flow; it lists named Executive Risk underwriters by region as broker/buyer contacts instead. ¹Company-reported. ExecuGuard product page team listing as read on 2026-09-23.	Access is limited to appointed wholesalers of Zurich Excess & Surplus (E&S): a wholesaler already appointed by Zurich E&S can reach the product through the Cowbell platform via API, and is directed to contact a Cowbell or Zurich representative to set that up. The product is not sold directly to businesses. ²Company-reported. FAQ 'How can I access the Zurich Select Plus management liability product through Cowbell?'.
Coverage Features	Beazley lists coverage features shared across the bundle: broad insured-person investigation and inquiry coverage, books-and-records coverage, workplace-violence coverage with a business-interruption sublimit, and privacy-violation coverage affecting employees. ¹Company-reported. ExecuGuard product page feature list; exclusions and conditions are set by the issued policy. The combined policy adds sublimited extensions for immigration-practices defense costs, OSHA proceedings and (subject to underwriting) wage-and-hour defense costs, plus settlor-capacity protection now written into the fiduciary insuring clauses. ¹Company-reported. ExecuGuard product page; sublimit amounts are not published and appear only on a quote.	Zurich's own page names the four Select Plus modules as 'Private Management and Company Liability,' 'Employment Practices and Third-Party Discrimination Liability,' 'Fiduciary Liability,' and 'Crime Insurance' -- broader labels than the plain 'D&O' and 'EPL' shorthand Cowbell's FAQ uses -- and says a buyer can combine up to four of these modules into one policy. ³Company-reported. Zurich page 'Protect your small to midsize business with Zurich's Select Plus Management Liability solutions' section. Cowbell describes management liability as a modular umbrella covering four lines within the Select Plus product: private company D&O, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, and crime, each addressing a different category of management or employee risk. ²Company-reported. FAQ 'What is the difference between management liability and D&O?'.
Role in This Line	Beazley markets ExecuGuard as a single management-liability package policy combining private-company directors and officers (D&O), employment practices and fiduciary liability, which buyers can customize with separate or shared limits across the three coverages. ¹Company-reported. US ExecuGuard package as described on the combined product page. Beazley does not market a separate US "management liability" product distinct from ExecuGuard in the reviewed sources; this record describes the same underlying product as the directors-officers, employment-practices and fiduciary offering records, at the bundle level.	Cowbell is the distribution platform, not the insurer: it gives Zurich-appointed E&S wholesalers API access to Zurich's Select Plus management liability product, a modular suite Zurich already sells to larger companies, sized down for small and midsize private businesses. Zurich's own page confirms Select Plus is 'Zurich Insurance, in collaboration with Cowbell,' offered as a 'proprietary form,' with identical FAQ wording to Cowbell's page. ^2,³Company-reported. Cowbell intro paragraph and FAQ; Zurich intro and 'Delivering speed from quoting to policy issuance' section.
Risk Services	ExecuGuard policyholders can choose counsel from an approved panel and get access to BeazleySure risk-management resources. The combined page does not list specific tools. ¹Company-reported. ExecuGuard product page; the EPL and fiduciary offering records list the specific BeazleySure features named on their own pages.	Cowbell says the product is backed by Zurich's claims service, and frames the offering's advantage as faster quoting and issuance through Cowbell's technology platform compared with Zurich's standard process, rather than describing separate risk-control services. ²Company-reported. Page intro and FAQ 'What makes the Zurich Select Plus offering through Cowbell unique?'.
Claims Support	Beazley illustrates its claims approach for the bundle with a securities class-action and shareholder derivative-action scenario in which its claims team worked with the insured's defense counsel toward a dismissal; this is a single company-reported example, not audited claims-outcome data. ¹Company-reported. ExecuGuard page scenario section; outcome statistics are not independently verified.	Cowbell says the most common management liability claims fall under employment practices liability, citing discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, and retaliation as the most frequent claim types. ²Company-reported. FAQ 'What is the most common management liability claim?'; describes claim frequency, not Cowbell's own claims-handling process.