Crum & Forster business insurance

Overview

Crum & Forster, usually shortened to C&F, is a national specialty property, casualty and accident and health insurer based in Morristown, New Jersey, and owned outright by Toronto's Fairfax Financial Holdings. It reported $6.2 billion of gross written premium in 2025, $4.7 billion net, a 94.8% combined ratio and $236 million of underwriting profit. It is not ranked separately here: its premiums count toward the Fairfax U.S. group, the 13th-largest business insurer in the country by 2025 commercial premiums.

C&F is less a single carrier than a set of specialty units on shared paper. By its own breakdown of 2025 premium, accident and health is the largest piece (39%), followed by surplus and specialty lines (28%), affiliated companies such as Seneca (16%), commercial lines (12%), surety (4%) and property (1%). The main policy-issuing companies are United States Fire Insurance Company, The North River Insurance Company and Crum & Forster Indemnity Company (admitted, all 50 states and D.C.), plus Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Company and First Mercury Insurance Company on the surplus lines side. The admitted P&C companies share results through a pooling agreement led by U.S. Fire.

It sells only through intermediaries: retail agents and brokers for admitted business, wholesale brokers and MGAs for E&S, and brokers, program managers and TPAs for accident and health. Marc Adee, a Fairfax veteran since 2000 who previously ran Fairmont Specialty, Seneca and CoverXSpecialty, is chairman and CEO.

History

C&F dates its business to 1822, which makes it one of the oldest insurance names in the country. By the 1990s it belonged to Xerox: in 1993 Crum & Forster Holdings sat under Talegen Holdings, Xerox's insurance holding company. When Xerox exited insurance, it agreed to sell C&F to Fairfax for total consideration of $680 million, including repayment of $115 million of debt. Fairfax completed the purchase on August 13, 1998, according to the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.

Under Fairfax, C&F grew from a standard commercial insurer into a specialty group. Notable steps:

• 2011: Fairfax bought First Mercury, a Detroit-based E&S and specialty writer, and folded it into C&F as the core of its surplus lines platform (the CoverXSpecialty brand Adee later ran).
• March 2019: took over Accredited Surety and Casualty's U.S. bail bond book and now handles that book's administration and run-off.
• December 2024: sold its credit division to Amynta Group.
• August 2025: AM Best upgraded the group to A+ (Superior).
• September 15, 2026: launched an admitted construction wrap-up product for retail agents.

From 2015 to 2025, C&F says, its gross written premium grew from $1.9 billion to $6.2 billion while its combined ratio improved from 97.7% to 94.8%.

Business insurance products

Commercial Lines (admitted, through retail agents). Multiline programs for contractors, middle-market segments (manufacturing, real estate, hospitality, wholesale distribution) and target niches such as agribusiness, petroleum and propane distribution, industrial gas and welding supply, food, craft breweries, wineries and Hawaii-based risks. A risk management unit handles larger loss-sensitive accounts. The Executive Risk suite covers D&O, E&O, cyber, technology E&O and crime and fidelity. The newest product is an admitted contractor controlled wrap-up program (CCIP) that combines workers' compensation and general liability for large projects such as hospitals, data centers and warehouses, on a single-site or rolling basis (see Wrap-up programs: how OCIPs and CCIPs work).

Surplus & Specialty (E&S, through wholesalers). Units for construction, energy, environmental, excess and umbrella, primary special risk, security, sharing economy and transportation, aimed at risks with unusual operations, start-ups and accounts with prior claims. The Small Business team writes:

• Small construction: CGL at $1 million / $2 million / $2 million and excess up to $5 million for contractors with $10 million or less in revenue (roofing, framing, plumbing, electrical, concrete, excavation, general contractors, homebuilders), in 48 states and D.C. Accounts in or with exposure in California or New York are not eligible.
• Small real estate: general liability for apartments, condo and townhome associations and lessor's-risk dwellings up to 500 units, with assault and battery and hired and non-owned auto available. It excludes California, Florida and New York.
• Binding authority: accounts up to $50,000 of premium through exclusive wholesale and MGA partners, covering classes from contractors and churches to restaurants, bars, habitational and vacant buildings.

Property. E&S shared and layered property, property programs, monoline inland marine and crisis management, including product recall.

Surety. Contract bonds for midsize and large contractors, commercial bonds (license and permit, court and fiduciary, public official) and bail bonds. C&F calls itself a top-10 U.S. surety writer.

Accident and health. Employer stop-loss and medical excess for self-funded plans, gap and supplemental benefits, blanket special risk and student accident, international travel medical, occupational accident for independent contractors and gig platforms, Texas non-subscriber coverage, and pet insurance through Hartville Pet Insurance Group.

Who it insures

C&F's sweet spot is the account a standard carrier will not write or will not write well: contractors, especially roofers and other heavy trades; habitational real estate; fuel, propane and chemical distributors; security firms; transportation; and environmental and energy risks. On the admitted side it targets middle-market manufacturers, distributors and hospitality businesses, and it writes larger construction accounts through risk management and wrap-up programs. In accident and health it serves employers, PEOs, associations and schools.

Small businesses do reach C&F, but almost always through a wholesaler on E&S paper. Its small construction and small real estate units exclude California and New York (and Florida for real estate), and it does not offer an online business owner's policy for the public.

How to buy

You cannot buy direct. A retail agent places admitted commercial lines; for surplus lines and binding authority business, your agent goes through a wholesale broker (see wholesale brokers and surplus lines placement: how hard risks get insured). Wholesalers have a dedicated submission address and a quick-quote portal for small construction GL. Bail agents can write directly with C&F or through general agents.

After binding, insureds and producers can sign up for C&F Connect Marketplace, the company's risk management information system, for loss runs, claim submission, policy documents and risk engineering reports. Bills can be paid online or at 844-217-7388.

Claims

Report a property or casualty claim at 800-690-5520, staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week; online through C&F Connect Marketplace; by email with the loss notice form from C&F's claims page; or by fax to 877-622-6218. C&F posts separate loss notice forms for auto, general liability, property and workers' comp, along with workers' comp claim kits and posting notices. Emergency response teams handle catastrophic and urgent losses around the clock. Seneca claims go to 212-344-3000, and Hawaii and accident and health claims have their own contacts on the claims pages.

Financial strength and ratings

AM Best upgraded the financial strength rating of C&F's P&C companies to A+ (Superior) from A (Excellent) on August 28, 2025, with a stable outlook and Financial Size Category XV. AM Best cited balance sheet strength it assesses as very strong and a business profile improved by growth in scale and diversification, as well as the benefit of being part of Fairfax. C&F's ratings page lists AA- from S&P for the same companies.

C&F reported a 94.8% combined ratio and $656 million of net income under IFRS 4 for 2025, with $3.15 billion of statutory surplus at year-end. For the first half of 2026 it reported $2.96 billion of gross written premium, a 95.5% combined ratio and statutory surplus of $3.45 billion at June 30, 2026. Note that 39% of its premium is accident and health, so its P&C book is smaller than the headline total suggests.

Strengths and weaknesses

C&F gives brokers a single, well-capitalized market for a wide spread of specialty risks, admitted and E&S, with strong recent results. It is built for intermediaries, though, and its small-business E&S appetite stops at several large states.

• Strengths: A+ from AM Best since the August 2025 upgrade and AA- from S&P. Ten years of growth and underwriting profit, with a 94.8% combined ratio in 2025. Both admitted and surplus lines paper, plus surety, so a contractor can place GL, excess, bonds and wrap-ups with one group. A 24/7 claim line and a loss-run and claims portal for insureds.
• Weaknesses: No direct or online buying; small accounts usually need a wholesaler on E&S paper, which carries surplus lines taxes and no state guaranty fund protection. Small construction excludes California and New York, and small real estate excludes those two plus Florida. Accident and health is the largest division, so P&C is only part of its focus.

How to contact Crum & Forster