Underwriting authority and referral management: know whose signature a risk needs before you call the broker
Answers in seconds, each referral tied to its rule and authority letter.
See one case, screen by screen ↓It is how a carrier makes sure each risk is signed by someone whose letter of authority covers it, and referred to the right person when it is not. This solution reads the submission, tests every fact against the underwriter’s own letter and the guides in force, and shows the risk on a ladder of four rungs — underwriter, senior underwriter, branch underwriting manager, home office — with the rule that put it there.
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A commercial underwriter writes inside a personal letter of authority: umbrella limit, TIV per location, account premium, schedule rating range, appetite tiers, states. On top sit four line guides, a class appetite table and a stack of bulletins that change the rules every quarter. The letter is a PDF on a shared drive, and the guides run to hundreds of pages.
So underwriters do one of two things. They refer too much, and the quote waits on a senior who is out of the office. Or they miss a trigger — an ammonia charge, a schedule credit above their range, a location in the wrong state — and write outside authority, which surfaces in the next underwriting audit. Either way, the referral itself is retyped by hand: the facts, the rule, the recommendation, every time.
Estimated split for one middle-market package account, by hand and with the solution, in working days.
Six agents test every fact against the underwriter's own letter and place the risk on the rung that can sign it; people sign.
Kessler Cold Storage asks for a $10M umbrella, and the quote is due Thursday. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Elena opens her accounts in progress: nine of them, two on her own rung and seven needing another signature. Each shows its rung, the fact that holds it up and the quote date. Overnight every account was re-checked against bulletin UB-26-07, effective 1 Oct 2026.
“9 accounts · 2 on your rung · 7 need another signature”
Kessler Cold Storage, LLC: a public refrigerated warehouse in Dayton, OH with a second location in Fort Wayne, IN, from Tri-County Risk Partners. The agents read the ACORD 125, 126, 131 and 140, the statement of values, loss runs from three carriers and the ammonia system statement, then tested each fact against letter UA-2026-114 v3 and the guides in force on the quote date. Ten facts sit on Elena’s rung. One does not.
“Needs the senior underwriter’s signature” — “umbrella $10M climbs to rung 2”.
Rung 2 belongs to Marcus Bell, senior underwriter, who is out until Fri 16 Oct. His delegate, Hannah Ostrowski, set by Rosa Delgado on 9 Oct, has 7 referrals waiting and a median answer of 2.1 days. The answer would come the day after the quote is due. The authority matrix shows what each rung may sign, from 23 signed letters in the branch.
“Public refrigerated warehouse with 8,400 lb of ammonia — in appetite, and can I write a $10M umbrella?” The answer comes from 1,186 pages in force on the quote date: tier 2, write; a $10M umbrella needs the senior underwriter, up to $5M is hers; 8,400 lb is below the 10,000 lb threshold, provided a written mechanical integrity inspection is on file within 12 months.
Every sentence is tied to its passage — and superseded versions are excluded.
Any citation opens the guide page with the passage highlighted: Commercial Umbrella and Excess Guide §4.2, page 31, version 2026.2. Its last sentence lets the underwriter offer a lower lead limit and leave the excess to another insurer, with the broker’s agreement on the file. The margin notes that this is the sentence behind the restructure the ladder suggests.
Every fact on the left is a control. Add a New York location and the risk climbs two rungs to the home office — New York is outside the region under letter ¶6. Raise the Dayton ammonia charge to 12,600 lb and it goes to the branch underwriting manager with a loss-control survey. Each change is logged.
“Needs the home office’s signature” — “Climbed two rungs”.
If Elena refers the account as it stands, note R-2611 is ready for Hannah Ostrowski: the §4.2 rule quoted word for word, what exceeds her authority, all 11 facts as read from the submission, and a recommendation she can edit. The routing panel warns that the expected answer, Fri 16 Oct, is after the quote is due.
Drafted by the referral writer — not sent. The underwriter decides.
The ladder suggests one change: offer a $5M lead umbrella and let the broker place $5M xs $5M elsewhere, as §4.2 allows. Elena sets the umbrella to $5M. The risk drops one rung onto her own, and the account premium re-totals to $371,300, down $27,300.
“Within your authority — you can quote it today.”
The quote shows each line — property $151,900, general liability at a −12% schedule credit $78,400, commercial auto $99,800, umbrella $5M $41,200 — and all 11 facts inside letter UA-2026-114 v3. Elena signs, and quote HM-CP-26-04417 goes to Amir Haddad at Tri-County Risk Partners.
“Signed by you. Logged with the letter and guide versions in force; it cannot be edited after signing.”
The log holds every question, check, change of fact, referral and signature, with the letter and guide versions in force. For Q3 in the Columbus branch: 3,412 checks, 418 referrals each with its rule, 137 restructured to stay in authority, 0 written outside authority. Priya draws her audit sample from here.
The same account, seen by the four people its authority runs through — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents test every fact against the underwriter's own letter and place the risk on the rung that can sign it; people sign.
Reads the ACORD forms, statement of values, loss runs and supplementals, and writes the facts the authority rules test, each with the page it came from.
Reads line guides, the appetite table, bulletins and every authority letter into testable rules, each tied to its page, version and effective date.
Tests every fact against the underwriter’s own letter and the guides in force on the quote date, and places the risk on the rung that can sign it. Re-tests on every change of fact.
Finds the smallest change to the account — limit, attachment, a location, a credit — that brings the risk to a lower rung, cites the sentence that allows it and shows the premium effect.
Drafts the referral note — the rule quoted, the facts filled in, a recommendation for the underwriter to edit — and routes it to whoever holds the rung today.
Writes every question, check, change of fact, referral and signature to the log, with the letter and guide versions in force.
Signs within her letter; the rung holder or delegate signs above it. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Underwriters ask about any account, rung or rule in plain words — or tell it what to change on the account. Every answer cites the letter or guide passage it rests on.
Why is Kessler Cold Storage above my authority?
One fact: the $10M umbrella. Your letter allows $5M; the umbrella guide gives $10M to the senior underwriter. The other 10 facts — ammonia at 8,400 lb, $24.2M at Dayton, the −12% credit — are inside your letter.
What is the smallest change that keeps it with me?
Offer a $5M lead umbrella and let Tri-County place $5M xs $5M with another insurer — §4.2 allows exactly that. It drops one rung onto yours, and the account premium becomes $371,300.
Who can sign a $10M umbrella today, and how fast?
Marcus Bell holds that rung but is out until Fri 16 Oct; his delegate is Hannah Ostrowski, with 7 referrals waiting and a median answer of 2.1 days. Expected answer Fri 16 Oct — a day after the Kessler quote is due.
Show the referrals I sent this month for the audit
Five referrals since 1 Oct, each with the rule it went up under: the Meridian NJ location, the Ostrander $15M umbrella, Lakeshore in Pennsylvania (approved), Ridgeline’s premium and Hollins Valley’s tier 3 class. None was written outside authority.
12 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Set by the branch underwriting manager. Every change is a new version, logged, and applies from its effective date.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Rungs and who holds them | 4 rungs | Underwriter · senior underwriter · branch underwriting manager · home office, each with its letter |
| An unknown fact refers | On | On · Off |
| Bulletins apply from their effective date | On | On · Off |
| Delegate when the holder is out | On | Set by the letter’s signer, with dates |
| Restructure suggestions | On | Only changes the guides allow; never sent to the broker by an agent |
| Show the ladder to the broker | Off | When on, brokers see only “in authority” or “referred” |
| Referral answer targets | Senior 1 business day · branch 2 · home office 3 | Business days, per rung |
| Remind the holder | At half the target | Per rung |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample branch data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (Accenture / The Institutes P&C underwriter survey — ≈40% of commercial underwriters’ time outside core underwriting). The 10,000 lb ammonia threshold in the sample guide is the OSHA Process Safety Management threshold quantity (29 CFR 1910.119, Appendix A). People, carriers, brokers and accounts named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
It is how a carrier makes sure each risk is signed by someone whose letter of authority covers it, and referred to the right person when it is not. This solution reads the submission, tests every fact against the underwriter’s own letter and the guides in force, and shows the risk on a ladder of four rungs — underwriter, senior underwriter, branch underwriting manager, home office — with the rule that put it there.
The guide reader turns each signed letter of authority, the line guides, the class appetite table and the bulletins into rules by dimension — umbrella limit, TIV per location, account premium, schedule rating, appetite tier, states, ammonia, loss history, fleet and forms — each tied to its page and version. In the working solution that is 23 letters and 1,186 pages.
No. Agents never approve. The underwriter signs within her letter, and the rung holder or the delegate signs above it. The referral writer drafts the note with the rule quoted, but it is not sent until the underwriter sends it, and the restructure advisor never contacts the broker.
An unknown fact is never guessed. By default it refers: the risk goes to the rung above until the fact is known.
A bulletin applies from its effective date, never before; read early, it is shown but not applied. Both versions of the rule are kept, and every account in progress is re-checked — in the working solution, nine accounts were re-checked overnight against bulletin UB-26-07 and none changed rung.
Yes. The restructure advisor finds the smallest change the guides allow — a lower lead limit, a location kept off the term, a different credit — cites the sentence that allows it and shows the premium effect. On the Kessler Cold Storage account, a $5M lead umbrella with the excess placed elsewhere brought the risk onto the underwriter’s own rung.
Every question, check, change of fact, referral and signature is logged with the letter and guide versions in force and who signed. Entries are read-only once signed and kept 7 years, and the auditor can filter by outcome, draw a sample and export it.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your letters of authority, line guides, appetite table and bulletins — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own letters first.
Submissions ready to price the same day, poor fits declined in minutes.
1-min demoLoss Run Analysis AutomationLoss summaries in minutes, not an hour per account, each claim traced.
1-min demoSchedule of Values ValidationEvery location geocoded and its COPE gaps flagged before the property is priced.
1-min demoWe’ll run Underwriting Authority & Referral Management on your own letters, guides and a sample of past submissions.