Gallagher vs Lockton Surety Bonds

Gallagher names commercial surety bond types and letter-of-credit replacement; Lockton emphasizes financial-analysis surety brokerage without listing bond types.

What Is Gallagher?

Gallagher is a business-insurance broker and risk-management consultancy. Its technology practice serves startups through global enterprises, alongside a separate small-business offering for IT professionals and an executive-risk practice covering D&O and transaction-related coverages. Woodruff Sawyer is now part of Gallagher. ^1,^2,^3,^4,⁵

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What Is Lockton?

Lockton is a privately held insurance brokerage that arranges commercial risk, employee benefits and retirement programs. US pages describe a technology practice and intermediary placement with insurers, not Lockton as the policy’s insurer. ^7,^8,⁹

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What Are Surety Bonds?

A surety bond is a three-party agreement: a surety guarantees an obligation your business (the principal) owes to a customer or other party (the obligee) if your business defaults. It isn't insurance that pays your business for its own losses. ^11,¹²

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Key Differences in Surety Bonds

Named Commercial Forms Versus Unlisted Instruments

Gallagher and Lockton both broker surety. Gallagher lists license and permit, court, public official and customs bonds on its commercial surety page and treats contract surety as separate. Lockton’s reviewed surety page does not list those forms; it describes a large brokerage (more than 2,000 clients, by its account) and a tailored service model. ⁶ ¹⁰

You can map an obligee’s request to Gallagher’s commercial headings. With Lockton, the reviewed page does not tell you whether the placement will be a customs bond or a performance bond. ⁶ ¹⁰

Two Service Toolkits

Gallagher’s documented services include replacing letters of credit, working an existing surety program and facilitating collateral release. Lockton’s documented services include financial statement analysis and credit rating, weighted backlog analysis, peer financial and rate comparisons, profit-trend analysis and safety-record review. ⁶ ¹⁰

Those are different work products: Gallagher’s examples are credit-facility substitution; Lockton’s are contractor-style analytics. Gallagher names industries (healthcare, financial services, utilities, small IT). Lockton does not name industries or a minimum bond size. ⁶ ² ¹⁰

Neither publishes standard rates or names sureties. Gallagher refers to leadership at major surety companies without listing them. ⁶ ¹⁰

What to Confirm in Surety Bonds Quotes

Ask Lockton which bond type it will place against Gallagher’s commercial list, and who handles Gallagher contract surety if you need a job bond. ¹⁰ ⁶
Ask whether you need LOC replacement (Gallagher) or backlog/peer-rate analysis (Lockton). ⁶ ¹⁰
Get issuing surety and penal sum from both. ⁶ ¹⁰
Confirm Gallagher’s international commercial work versus Lockton’s unnamed industry mix. ⁶ ¹⁰

Offering Details

Gallagher vs Lockton Surety Bonds: documented features by provider

Criteria	Gallagher Commercial Surety Bonds	Lockton Surety Brokerage
Role in This Line	Gallagher places commercial surety bonds as a three-party arrangement between the client (principal), the party requiring the bond (obligee) and a surety company; Gallagher brokers the bond rather than acting as the surety itself. ⁶Company-reported. Group-level commercial surety practice page.	Lockton Surety brokers surety bonds and says it has become one of the largest surety brokers in the world, representing more than 2,000 clients across industries. Lockton is the broker facilitating the bond relationship, not the surety. ¹⁰Company-reported. Surety product page as read 2026-09-23. Client count and market-size claims are company-reported.
Issuing Insurer	The commercial surety page describes relationships with "leadership at all major surety companies" but does not name the specific surety that would issue a given client's bond. ⁶Not publicly disclosed. Checked the group-level commercial surety practice page.	The surety page does not name the surety companies Lockton places bonds with. ¹⁰Not publicly disclosed. Surety page checked 2026-09-23.
Who It’s For	Gallagher says it serves commercial surety clients across healthcare, financial services, public utilities, and private and public companies, for both domestic and international projects, and separately lists surety bond programs as a recommended coverage for small IT and technology businesses. ^6,²Company-reported. Group-level commercial surety practice page and the small-business technology-services page.	Lockton says it represents clients across a wide range of industries and tailors its surety service model to each client rather than a single standard approach. ¹⁰Company-reported. Surety product page as read 2026-09-23. No named industries or minimum bond size were published.
Coverage Features	Gallagher says it places license and permit bonds, court bonds, public official bonds and customs bonds under its commercial surety practice, distinct from contract (construction) surety bonds, which it treats as a separate related product. ⁶Company-reported. Group-level commercial surety practice page; a service-menu description, not a specific bond's terms.	Not described in the reviewed sources.
Limits and Retentions	The commercial surety page does not publish standard bond amounts, premium rates or collateral requirements; these vary by bond type and client. ⁶Not publicly disclosed. Checked the group-level commercial surety practice page.	Not described in the reviewed sources.
Risk Services	Gallagher says its surety team can help replace letters of credit with bonds, work with a client's existing surety program, and facilitate collateral release, citing a case where it placed commercial surety bonds in place of letters of credit to support $60 million in power-purchase obligations for an energy-company client. ⁶Company-reported. Group-level commercial surety practice page case study; a single company-reported example, not independently verified.	Lockton lists data-driven surety services it provides: financial statement analysis and credit rating, weighted backlog analysis, financial and rate peer comparisons and benchmarking, individual project and composite profit trend analysis, and detailed safety record review. ¹⁰Company-reported. Surety product page as read 2026-09-23.

Full Comparison

More Gallagher vs Lockton Comparisons

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Sources

Gallagher

Technology Insurance. Gallagher; Introduction; Solutions and coverages for the technology industry: Technology errors and omissions including cyber, Intellectual property insurance, Product liability, Employee benefits; Data-driven insights; global network. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Insurance for Technology & IT Businesses. Gallagher Small Business; Protection for IT Professionals & Their Technology-Based Businesses; recommended coverage menu, including Surety Bond Programs; Connect With An Advisor. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Executive and Financial Risk Insurance. Gallagher; Opening (insurance broking and placement); three key services; Directors and Officers; IPO and direct listings; Employment Practices; Fiduciary; Employee Dishonesty (Crime) and Fidelity Bond; Kidnap, Ransom and Extortion; M&A Transactional Insurance. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Legal Information. Gallagher Small Business; Producer identification immediately above Quick Links. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Woodruff Sawyer Is Now Gallagher. Gallagher; Opening; Executive and Financial Risk consulting; Continued access to client portals; contact form. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Surety. Gallagher; Surety relationships that convert to future growth; Understanding commercial surety vs. contract surety bonds; Providing assurance that keeps business moving (License and permit bonds, Court bonds, Public official bonds, Customs bonds); The Gallagher Difference case study; Commercial Surety and Bonds Summary. Accessed 2026-09-23.

Lockton

Lockton United States. Lockton; Opening description of independent insurance brokerage for risk, benefits and retirement; Ask an Expert link to contact-us. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Technology. Lockton; Industry introduction; cyber liability heading; dedicated technology team; listed services including claims advocacy, contract review, directors and officers liability, and international program design; 24/7 service model. Accessed 2026-09-16.
US Terms of Business. Lockton; Opening entity definition; Surplus Lines; Use of a Particular Insurer; Compensation Disclosure; servicing, claims handling and renewal language in Confidentiality section; Intermediaries. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Surety. Lockton; Disrupting surety brokerage since 1966; Consultative services; An unparalleled level of service; Data-driven solutions tools and services list. Accessed 2026-09-23.

Surety Bonds Guide

Glossary of Insurance Terms. National Association of Insurance Commissioners; Surety Bond; Fidelity. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Surety bonds. U.S. Small Business Administration; Opening guarantee of work completion; Contract or commercial bonds; Bid, Payment, Performance, Ancillary; Eligibility > credit, capacity, and character. Accessed 2026-09-16.