Beazley vs Founder Shield Fidelity Bonds

Beazley underwrites Financial Fidelity Bonds, which it markets specifically to financial institutions, as a separate line from the Commercial Crime product it sells to ordinary commercial companies on the same page. ⁵Company-reported. Crime and Fidelity product page; "fidelity bonds" is the name the page uses for the financial-institution version of this crime coverage.

Founder Shield is a retail insurance brokerage, described on its site as “the innovation arm of The Baldwin Group,” and places Founder Shield ERISA Fidelity Bond with third-party carriers rather than underwriting the policy itself. ¹²Company-reported. About-us page; applies to Founder Shield's brokerage model generally, restated here for this line.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Founder Shield says it places policies, including Founder Shield ERISA Fidelity Bond, only with carriers rated A- or better by AM Best, chosen for the client's industry. It does not name the issuing insurer for this line; that depends on which carrier the policy is placed with. ⁸Company-reported. General carrier-selection FAQ, not specific to this line's placements.

Beazley says its expert team underwrites Financial Fidelity Bonds for financial institutions. The page does not name which types of financial institution (e.g., banks, credit unions, broker-dealers) qualify. ⁵Company-reported. Product-page target-customer statement; no institution-type list or asset-size threshold is published.

Founder Shield says this bond is required for plan sponsors offering a retirement plan, the fiduciaries who manage it, third-party administrators, and even small businesses with a simple 401(k). ¹¹Company-reported. ERISA Fidelity Bond product page.

Beazley describes fidelity bonds as protecting a financial institution from loss of money and securities caused by employee theft, plus third-party-related losses such as forgery or alteration, on-premises and in-transit loss, money-order and counterfeit-currency fraud, computer fraud, client-property loss, credit-card fraud and related expenses. ⁵Company-reported. Product page's general description of crime/fidelity coverage; the page does not itemize a separate insuring-agreement list for fidelity bonds versus Commercial Crime.

The reviewed page attributes its fraudulent-instruction (social-engineering) insuring agreement and out-of-band-authentication condition to "our Commercial Crime policy" specifically. It does not state that Financial Fidelity Bonds include this same insuring agreement. ⁵Not found in reviewed sources. Checked against the full product page text as of 2026-09-23; absence of a fidelity-bond-specific statement is not evidence the coverage is unavailable to financial institutions.

Founder Shield lists theft and embezzlement of plan assets, forgery, misappropriation and larceny by those who handle a benefit plan's funds as what an ERISA fidelity bond covers. ¹¹Company-reported. Product page; the issued bond and its terms control actual coverage.

The product page advertises limits of up to US $25,000,000 for this line without separately breaking out a fidelity-bond-specific maximum from the Commercial Crime figure on the same page. ⁵Company-reported. Shared headline limit figure; retentions and bond-specific sub-limits are not published.

Founder Shield's page states the federal ERISA bonding requirement: at least 10% of plan funds handled, with a minimum bond of $1,000 and a maximum of $500,000 (up to $1 million for plans holding employer securities). This is the statutory minimum, not a Founder Shield-specific limit. ¹¹Company-reported. Product page describing the ERISA statutory bonding requirement.

Beazley says its underwriting and claims professionals for this product family work side by side so that the original underwriting intent is respected when a claim arises. ⁵Company-reported. Company-stated internal process description applying to the Crime and Fidelity product family generally; no fidelity-bond-specific service is separately described.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Beazley lists dedicated Financial Institution bond application forms in its Tools & Resources: FI Bond Form 14, Form 15, Form 24 and Form 25, separate from the Commercial Crime application forms on the same page. ⁵Company-reported. Tools & Resources section of the product page; the page does not describe an online quote or self-service purchase flow.

You request Founder Shield ERISA Fidelity Bond through Founder Shield's website or an insurance advisor rather than binding coverage directly; Founder Shield says its placement team then approaches carriers on the client's behalf. ^12,8Company-reported. About-us and carrier-selection pages describe the general placement process, not a line-specific application form.

The product page links to Beazley's general claim-notification channel for this line. It does not disclose a claims response-time commitment or a dedicated claims process specific to Financial Fidelity Bonds. ⁵Not publicly disclosed. Product page "Notify a Claim" link as read on 2026-09-23; response times were not found.

Not described in the reviewed sources.