ASCEND. Our A/B captive.
Workers comp, general liability, and auto liability for well run commercial accounts that have outgrown the guaranteed cost market and can show the loss history to prove it. Accepting submissions now.
Program specs
Lines we write.
Captive retention is $500,000. The fronting carrier sits above that, so a single large loss does not land on the member.
Program partners
How the money actually works.
Operating, about 35%
Covers operating costs, reinsurance, and the fronting carrier. Spent, not banked.
Reserves, about 65%
The member's own money, funding their own future claims.
A Fund and B Fund, 70/30
The A Fund absorbs frequent smaller claims. The B Fund absorbs the larger ones.
Above $500,000
The fronting carrier responds. Not the member, and not the group.
Defense costs sit inside reserve funding. Whatever reserve is left after claims stays eligible for distribution. Assessments are capped at one additional fund rather than being open ended.
Who fits ASCEND.
What we are looking for
- At least $250,000 in combined annual premium across workers comp, general liability, and auto liability
- Five years of currently valued loss runs and experience mods
- Losses that respond to safety and claims discipline rather than luck
- An owner who will engage on loss control, not just buy a policy
- A class that is not on the excluded list
Excluded classes
- Underground mining
- All federal exposures
- Longshore and harbor workers
- Explosive manufacturing
- Petrochemical
Everything else in the commercial space is worth a conversation. Use the checker below if you are not sure how a class is coded.
Green, yellow, or red?
Every class on the ASCEND list carries an appetite colour. Check before you spend time on an account, not after. Red is a program decision, not a comment on the risk.
Check a NAICS code against ASCEND appetite
1,001 classes colour coded green, yellow, or red. Enter a NAICS code for a verdict, a SIC code to convert it first, or a plain word to search by what the business does.
SIC codes convert automatically using the 2022 NAICS to SIC crosswalk. Where one SIC maps to several NAICS classes with different colours, every option is shown, because the colour depends on what the business actually does rather than how it was coded.
What a complete submission looks like.
Agent of record is settled by whoever first provides complete data. Send it complete and you get a faster answer and a stronger position.
- Five years of currently valued loss runs, all lines
- Five years of experience mods with payroll or receipts by class
- Current dec pages and expiring premium detail
- Vehicle schedule and driver list with MVRs
- Written safety program and claims handling detail
- Renewal date and incumbent carrier
ASCEND in detail.
Have an account that might fit ASCEND?
Run the numbers on it first, then bring it to us. Complete submissions get faster answers and settle agent of record.