Commonwealth offers primarily commercial property and casualty insurance coverages principally to large and mid-sized commercial clients in North America. Commonwealth employs a variety of strategies depending on the line of business, characteristics of the risk, size of the client and geographic location of the account. Generally, Commonwealth seeks to take a lead underwriting position, either by writing up to 100% of mid-sized accounts or by taking a senior role in a “layer” of insurance for a larger customer. Larger commercial enterprises often structure their insurance in layers, each with different risk characteristics depending on the attachment point, or level of loss required to trigger coverage under the layer.

Commonwealth generates business through independent brokers, including multinational and large regional brokers and, in the U.S., also through certain excess and surplus lines brokers.

Commonwealth was incorporated in 1947, has been writing insurance in North America since 1950, and was acquired by Fairfax in 1990. We acquired Commonwealth in conjunction with our initial public offering in 2003.

Lombard Canada Ltd. | Markel Insurance Company of Canada | Federated Insurance Company of Canada