These Terms of Business govern the insurance broking and related services provided by the Lamda Insurance Brokers Group. They are an important document that sets out our respective responsibilities and the basis on which we act for you. Please read them carefully. We recommend that you keep or print a copy for your records. These terms are intended for business and commercial clients acting in the course of a trade, business, or profession. If you are an individual seeking insurance for personal, family, or household purposes, tell us before you instruct us, as different terms and additional statutory protections apply and some provisions of these terms may not.

Your acceptance – By submitting an application or request through our website or otherwise, by instructing us to place, renew, amend, or service any insurance on your behalf, or by paying any premium to us, you accept these Terms of Business. If you do not accept them, you should not instruct us. These terms are published on our website and may be updated from time to time; the version in force at the time you instruct us applies to that instruction.

1. Who We Are

“Lamda,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the members of the Lamda Insurance Brokers Group. Depending on the market and the nature of your risk, your insurance will be arranged by one of the following group companies, and we will tell you which entity is acting for you:

• Lamda – Insurance Brokers LLC, a limited liability company formed in the State of Delaware, United States, our United States operation. It acts as a licensed insurance broker and surplus lines broker, and is licensed as required in the states in which it transacts business. In California it transacts business under the name Lamda Insurance Services LLC.
• Lamda Broking General Insurance Agency (2022) Ltd., company number 516526332, an Israeli-licensed insurance agency and a Lloyd’s Open Market Correspondent; and
• Lamda Insurance Brokers (2023) Ltd., company number 516791977, an Israeli-licensed insurance agency.

The Israeli entities have their registered office at HaTidhar 17, Ra’anana, Israel, and are licensed as insurance agents and supervised by the Commissioner of the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority under the Supervision of Financial Services (Insurance) Law, 5741-1981. Across the group we place commercial insurance in the United States admitted and surplus lines markets, at Lloyd’s of London, in the Israeli market, and with other international markets. We are insurance intermediaries. We are not an insurer or an underwriter and we do not carry the risk under any policy we place for you.

Surplus lines and non-admitted insurers – Some of the insurance we arrange is placed with insurers that are not licensed or admitted in your state or country. Those insurers are not subject to the same financial supervision as admitted insurers, and in the United States a policy issued by a non-admitted insurer is not protected by any state insurance guaranty fund or association. If a non-admitted insurer becomes insolvent, you may have no recourse to a guaranty fund. Where we place cover on this basis we will tell you, and you may also be asked to sign a disclosure required by the state in which the insurance is placed.

2. The Capacity in Which We Act

The capacity in which we act depends on how you came to us, and it affects who your insurance agent is. Where you are introduced to us by, or are otherwise represented by, another insurance agent or broker, we act in a wholesale capacity and that agent remains your agent. One of the following will apply:

• Direct engagement (Broker of Record) – Where you engage us directly, we act as your insurance broker and Broker of Record with the insurer. In this capacity we are the agent of record on the policy and deal with the insurer on your behalf.
• Placement through a referring agent (wholesale) – Where you were introduced to us by another insurance agent or broker who remains your agent, we act as a wholesale or placing broker. In that case your own agent is your point of contact and is responsible for advising you on the suitability of the cover for your needs, and we provide market access and placement. We do not, in that capacity, assume the advisory role of your agent, and our responsibility is limited to the placement services we actually perform.

In either capacity we are an insurance intermediary only. We are not an insurer or an underwriter, we do not carry the risk under any policy, and we do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer or the payment of any claim. Where more than one intermediary is involved in arranging your insurance, our responsibility is limited to our own acts and omissions and does not extend to those of any other agent or intermediary.

3. Our Role and Services

Acting as your insurance intermediary, we generally provide the following services, as applicable to your engagement:

• Where you instruct us to do so, reviewing your insurance needs and advising on coverage and program structure;
• Marketing your risk to insurers in the United States, Israeli, and international markets, including Lloyd’s of London, and negotiating terms;
• Presenting quotations, arranging and placing the coverage you instruct us to bind, and issuing confirmations of coverage;
• Assisting with premium administration and the delivery of policy documents; and
• Providing reasonable assistance with claims notification and handling, as described in Section 11.

Any advice or recommendation we give is based on the information you provide to us and on your stated needs. Where we do not advise on a particular product, you are responsible for deciding whether it meets your needs.

What we do not undertake to do – Unless we agree otherwise in writing, we do not undertake to identify every risk your business faces, to advise on the adequacy of any limit, sub-limit, deductible, or valuation you select, to procure any coverage you have not instructed us to place, to monitor your insurance or your circumstances between transactions, or to arrange renewal of a policy unless you instruct us to do so. Our duties arise in respect of each specific instruction you give us and end when that instruction is completed. You remain responsible for reading each policy when you receive it and for telling us promptly if it does not match what you asked for.

Any indication of rates, premiums, or terms we give before a risk is placed is not a firm quotation. No cover is in force, and no quotation is binding, until the insurer has accepted the risk and we have confirmed the cover to you in writing. You should not assume that cover is in place until you receive that written confirmation.

Consultancy and advisory services – In addition to insurance broking, we provide risk and insurance consultancy services, which may include risk review, program design and benchmarking, analysis of policy wordings and coverage, claims advocacy support, and assistance in coordinating multinational insurance programs. Where we act in a consultancy capacity we do not place insurance, we do not act as your agent in dealings with any insurer, and our remuneration is by fee rather than commission.

Other territories – Our licenses and registrations are held in the jurisdictions described in Section 1. Where you or your risks are located elsewhere, we may work with licensed local brokers, agents, and other partners in the relevant territory, who are responsible for any activity requiring a local license or authorization there. In those cases our own role is limited to consultancy, coordination, and support services, and nothing we do is to be treated as the transaction of insurance business, or as the giving of regulated advice, in any jurisdiction in which we are not licensed.

4. Your Responsibilities and the Duty of Disclosure

You must take reasonable care to give insurers complete and accurate information, and to answer their questions honestly. The information you give when you apply for, renew, or amend a policy forms the basis of the contract of insurance, and insurers rely on it to decide whether to accept the risk and on what terms.

If any information you provide is incomplete, inaccurate, or misrepresented, or if you fail to disclose a material fact, the insurer may be entitled to void the policy, reject or reduce a claim, or impose different terms, in some cases as if the policy had never been in force. Where your insurance is subject to Israeli law, sections 6 and 7 of the Insurance Contract Law, 5741-1981 apply, and the insurer may be entitled to be released from or to reduce payment of insurance benefits accordingly. This risk falls on you, not on Lamda. You should keep copies of all documents you send us, check every document we send you to confirm it reflects the cover you require, and tell us promptly of any change in your circumstances or activities that may affect your insurance, both at inception and throughout the period of cover.

Pay particular attention to anything in your policy described as a warranty, condition, or subjectivity. Failure to comply with a warranty or condition, or to satisfy a subjectivity within the time required, may entitle the insurer to reduce or refuse a claim, or to treat the cover as terminated or void, in some cases from inception. If you are unsure whether a warranty or subjectivity is met, contact us before relying on the cover.

5. Remuneration

We are usually remunerated by commission, which is a percentage of the insurance premium allowed by the insurer. In some cases we may charge or agree a fee, or a combination of commission and fee, which we will agree with you or disclose to you. We may also receive other income in connection with placing your insurance, including contingent or profit commission from insurers, income from wholesale brokers, and income from premium finance arrangements. You may ask us at any time for details of the compensation we receive in connection with any policy, including the amount or basis of any commission and the identity of the payer, and we will provide that information in writing. Where our compensation could reasonably be seen to influence a recommendation we make, we will tell you before you bind. 

Any fee we agree with you is earned in full when you instruct us to proceed, whether or not the placement is subsequently completed, and our commission is earned on the date coverage is bound. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, fees and commission are not refundable if you withdraw your instruction, or if the policy is subsequently cancelled, avoided, or adjusted mid-term, except to the extent applicable law or the insurer's return-premium terms require us to refund them.

6. Premium Payment and Handling of Funds

You must pay premiums in cleared funds by the payment date we specify. Insurers may cancel a policy or refuse to pay a claim if the premium is not paid on time. We are not obliged to advance premium to any insurer on your behalf, and we are under no obligation to pay premium to an insurer until we have received cleared funds from you.

Where we receive funds from you or on your behalf, we hold and handle them in accordance with applicable law and regulatory requirements. Where we hold funds paid by you or due to you, we hold them in a fiduciary capacity, separately from our own operating funds, in accordance with applicable insurance laws and regulations and with the terms of our appointment by the relevant insurer, wholesale broker, or coverholder. Depending on the jurisdiction and the terms of that appointment, funds may be held on behalf of the insurer, so that payment of premium to us discharges your obligation to the insurer, or on your behalf until we remit them. We remit funds to the insurer or intermediary entitled to them as soon as reasonably practicable. Where funds we hold for you earn interest, that interest is dealt with in accordance with applicable law and any applicable regulatory directive; where the law permits us to retain it, we will tell you before we do so. We may set off amounts you owe us against fees or commission we owe you, but we will not apply premium or claims funds held for you or for an insurer against any other debt.

We are not responsible for any loss you suffer as a result of the cancellation of your policy by the insurer, or any other step it takes, arising from late payment of premium that is attributable to you.

7. Limitation of Liability

Please read this Section carefully. It affects the liability of Lamda to you.

We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including liability for our own fraud or willful misconduct, and any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded under applicable law.

Subject to the paragraph above:

• We are an intermediary only. We do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer or the payment of any claim. If an insurer delays, disputes, reduces, or refuses payment of a claim, or becomes insolvent, that is a matter between you and the insurer, and we are not liable to pay the claim or to make good any shortfall.
• We are liable only for loss directly caused by our own negligence, breach of these terms, or breach of a duty we owe you, and only to the extent such loss was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that breach.
• Neither party is liable to the other for any indirect, consequential, special, punitive, or exemplary loss or damage, or for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business or opportunity, business interruption, or loss of goodwill, however arising, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise.

Claims against us – This paragraph concerns claims you may bring against Lamda, and is separate from the notification of claims under your policy, which is dealt with in Section 11. You must notify us of any claim against us promptly after you become aware of the circumstances giving rise to it. Where these terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, any such claim must be commenced within twenty-four (24) months after the date on which you first became aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, of those circumstances. Where these terms are governed by Israeli law, the limitation periods prescribed by law apply.

8. Confidentiality and Data Privacy

We treat the information you give us as confidential and use it only in connection with providing our services, unless disclosure is required by law or regulation, is made to insurers, reinsurers, or others involved in placing or servicing your insurance or handling your claims, or is made to our professional advisers, auditors, or service providers under appropriate confidentiality obligations.

In providing our services we collect and process personal information about you and, where relevant, about your employees, directors, officers, and others connected with you, in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the Israeli Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981 and applicable United States federal and state privacy laws. We process this information to arrange and administer your insurance, to handle claims, to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, and for the legitimate purposes of operating our business. We may share personal information with insurers, wholesale brokers, reinsurers, claims adjusters, regulators, and service providers, and this may involve transferring information internationally, including between the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, in connection with placing your insurance. Where we transfer information, we take steps to protect it.

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services and to meet our legal, regulatory, and record-keeping obligations. Where you provide us with personal information about other individuals, you confirm you are entitled to do so and have informed them how their information will be used. You and other individuals have rights in respect of personal information under applicable law, including rights to review and correct information held about you; requests may be directed to us using the contact details below.

9. Conflicts of Interest

We maintain arrangements to identify and manage conflicts of interest that may arise in the course of our business. Where we become aware of a conflict that affects our services to you, we will manage it fairly and, where appropriate, disclose it to you so that you can decide how to proceed.

10. Financial Crime, Anti-Money Laundering, and Sanctions

We maintain systems and controls to prevent financial crime, including money laundering, bribery, tax evasion, and the facilitation of these offenses, and we expect the same of you. To comply with our legal obligations, we may be required to verify the identity of clients and their beneficial owners at the outset of, and during, our relationship, and you agree to provide the information and documents we reasonably request for this purpose.

We do not provide services, place insurance, or handle funds where to do so would breach applicable trade or economic sanctions. We may refuse, suspend, or cease any transaction, and withhold funds, where we reasonably believe that continuing would expose us to a risk of sanctions or financial crime, and we will not be liable for any loss arising as a result.

11. Claims

You must notify us or the insurer of any claim or any circumstance that may give rise to a claim as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event within any time limits set out in the policy. We will provide reasonable assistance in presenting your claim to insurers, but we do not adjust claims and the decision whether to accept or pay a claim is the insurer’s. Late notification may prejudice or invalidate your claim.

12. Termination

You or we may terminate our appointment at any time on written notice, without affecting the completion of any transactions already begun. On termination, we remain entitled to any commission and fees earned in respect of insurances placed before termination. Termination does not affect any rights or obligations that accrued before it, and Sections 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 16 survive termination.

13. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

The Lamda entity that contracts with you, and the governing law of these terms, depend on the operation through which your insurance is arranged. We will tell you which entity is acting for you.

• If your insurance is arranged by Lamda – Insurance Brokers LLC (our United States operation), these terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes or claims), are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and the state and federal courts located in the State of Delaware have exclusive jurisdiction.
• If your insurance is arranged by Lamda Broking General Insurance Agency (2022) Ltd. or Lamda Insurance Brokers (2023) Ltd. (our Israel operation), these terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes or claims), are governed by the laws of the State of Israel, and the competent courts of the Central District have exclusive jurisdiction.

Where the identity of the contracting entity is unclear, the governing law and jurisdiction are those of the place where the services were principally provided.

14. General

• Acceptance of these terms, and any instruction you give us, may be given electronically, and you agree that electronic acceptance and records are valid and binding.
• These terms may be updated from time to time; the version published on our website when you instruct us applies to that instruction.
• If any provision of these terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.
• Notices – Any notice under these terms must be in writing. You may give notice to us by email to info@lamdabroking.com, and we may give notice to you at the email or postal address you last gave us. A notice sent by email is treated as received on the next business day in the place of receipt.
• Assignment – You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these terms without our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer ours to another member of the Lamda Insurance Brokers Group, or in connection with a reorganization or a sale of our business, on written notice to you.
• Entire agreement – These terms, together with any engagement letter, fee agreement, or broker of record letter signed between us, form the entire agreement between us in relation to our services and supersede any earlier understanding on the same subject matter. Where a signed engagement letter or fee agreement conflicts with these terms, that document prevails.
• Force majeure – We are not liable for any failure or delay in performing our services caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including war, terrorism, civil emergency, natural disaster, epidemic, cyber incident, or failure of communications, banking, or information technology systems, or the act of any government or regulator. This does not affect your obligation to pay premium when due.
• No person who is not a party to these terms has any right to enforce any of them.
• These terms are written in English. Where we also provide a translation into Hebrew or any other language, the translation is for convenience only and the English version prevails in the event of any inconsistency.

15. Complaints

If you are unhappy with any aspect of our service, please tell us. Write to us at info@lamdabroking.com, setting out what has gone wrong and how you would like the matter resolved. We will acknowledge your complaint promptly, investigate it, and give you our response in writing.

If your complaint concerns our Israel operation and you are not satisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the Public Enquiries Unit of the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority. If it concerns our United States operation, you may refer the matter to the insurance department of the state in which the insurance was placed. Referring a complaint to a regulator does not affect any other right you may have.

16. Electronic Communications

We communicate with you by email and other electronic means, and we may deliver quotations, confirmations of cover, policy documents, invoices, and notices electronically unless you ask us in writing to receive them another way. You agree to receive documents in this manner and confirm that you are able to access and retain them.

Email and internet communications are not secure. They can be intercepted, delayed, corrupted, or fail to arrive, and they may carry viruses. We take reasonable steps to protect our systems but we are not liable for loss arising from the interception, corruption, delay, or non-delivery of an electronic communication, except to the extent caused by our negligence.

Payment fraud – We will never notify you of a change to our bank details by email alone. Before transferring any funds, verify our account details by telephone using a number you already hold for us, and treat any email or message purporting to change payment instructions as suspect until you have done so. We are not responsible for funds transferred to an account that is not ours.

Contact

Lamda Insurance Brokers Group

United States: Lamda – Insurance Brokers LLC

Israel: Lamda Broking General Insurance Agency (2022) Ltd. · Lamda Insurance Brokers (2023) Ltd. · HaTidhar 17, Ra’anana

Email: info@lamdabroking.com   |   Web: www.lamdabroking.com