Travelers 2009 Annual Report Download - page 191

THE TRAVELERS COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued)
1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Continued)
•Ocean Marine serves the marine transportation industry and related services, as well as
other businesses involved in international trade. The Company’s product offerings in this
unit fall under six main coverage categories: marine liability, cargo, hull and machinery,
protection and indemnity, pleasure craft, and marine property and liability.
•Excess Casualty serves small to mid-sized commercial businesses, offering mono-line
umbrella and excess coverage where the Company typically does not write the primary
casualty coverage, or where other business units within the Company prefer to access the
underwriting expertise and/or limit capacity of the Excess Casualty business unit.
•Boiler & Machinery serves small to large companies, offering comprehensive breakdown
coverages for equipment, including property and business interruption coverages. Through
the BoilerRe unit, Boiler & Machinery also serves other property and casualty carriers that
do not have in-house expertise with reinsurance, underwriting, engineering, claim handling
and risk management services for this type of coverage.
•Global Accounts provides insurance to U.S. companies with foreign property and liability
exposures (home-foreign), and foreign organizations with property and liability exposures
located in the United States (reverse-flow), as part of a global program.
•Specialized Distribution. The following units market and underwrite their products to customers
predominantly through licensed wholesale, general and program agents that manage customers’
unique insurance requirements.
•Northland provides insurance coverage for the commercial transportation industry, as well as
commercial liability and package policies for small, difficult to place specialty classes of
commercial business on an admitted or excess and surplus lines basis.
•National Programs offers tailored property and casualty programs on an admitted basis for
customers with common risk characteristics or coverage requirements. Programs available
include those for entertainment, architects and engineers, equipment rental, golf services
and owners of franchised businesses.
Business Insurance also includes the Special Liability Group (which manages the Company’s
asbestos and environmental liabilities) and the assumed reinsurance and certain international and other
runoff operations, which collectively are referred to as Business Insurance Other. In December 2008,
the Company completed the sale of Unionamerica Holdings Limited (Unionamerica), which comprised
its United Kingdom-based runoff insurance and reinsurance businesses. The sale was not material to
the Company’s results of operations or financial position.
Financial, Professional & International Insurance
The Financial, Professional & International Insurance segment includes surety and financial
liability coverages, which primarily use credit-based underwriting processes, as well as property and
casualty products that are primarily marketed on a domestic basis in the United Kingdom, the Republic
of Ireland and Canada, and on an international basis through Lloyd’s. The segment includes the
following groups:
•Bond & Financial Products provides a wide range of customers with bond and insurance products
and risk management services. The range of coverages includes performance, payment and
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