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Credit Lines and Surety

Meet your obligations and protect your reputation

Liquidity and trust are both vital to successful business. If a customer, business partner or government agency needs a surety bond or guarantee from your organization, Zurich is here to help.

Our capabilities


We offer expert assistance in all areas of surety and credit guarantee and can provide solutions tailored to your business. Our services include:

Contract surety

Commercial Surety

Trade Credit Insurance

Why Zurich?

We have been helping businesses with surety bonds since 1890 and are one of the world’s largest and most trusted surety insurance companies.

Global team with a local focus

We have over 240 underwriters situated across 11 countries, all supported by experienced credit analysts and technical underwriters.

Wide range of solutions

We can offer you a variety of surety bonds, with capacity ranging from mid to very large projects.

Focused on your needs

We have the expertise to be able to tailor a completely customized solution for your business

Full support from policy writing to claims

We offer the very highest standards of service, and our surety claims service can help you manage any kind of claim.

Cross-border capabilities

Our IPZ network and our fronting solutions mean that we can support you across a range of geographies and jurisdictions.

Highly respected solvency

We have a set of consistent and reliable external ratings that are largely accepted by public authorities, banks and corporations.

Our surety solutions in detail

What is a surety bond?

Surety is the promise to be liable for the debt of a third-party. It is normally provided as a bond or guarantee by a guarantor, securing the primary obligations of a principal to a third-party beneficiary. We offer two main types of solution.

Contract surety

Construction contractors who carry out public works projects will generally need contract security bonds. Many private construction projects can also require a security bond.

We offer a comprehensive range of bonds for contractors, including:

  • Bid bonds
  • Performance bonds
  • Labor and material payment bonds
  • Subcontract performance bonds
  • Maintenance bonds
  • Supply bonds
  • Public-private partnership bonds
  • Miscellaneous bonds, including subdivision bonds, advance payment bonds and grid connection bonds

Commercial surety

Commercial surety bonds are used by public, legal and governmental bodies to protect against financial risk, and guarantee that a business will meet its legal obligations.

We offer a comprehensive range of commercial surety bonds, including:

  • License and permit bonds
  • Court bonds, including judicial bonds and fiduciary bonds
  • Workers’ compensation self-insurance bonds
  • Environmental surety bonds
  • Miscellaneous bonds, including fiscal and tax obligation bonds, travel bonds, warranty, customs bonds and rental bonds

Trade credit insurance

If your business is at risk of the non-payment of short-term credit, such as invoices not being paid due to insolvency or a default of payment, trade credit insurance can cover loss under the policy.

We offer trade credit insurance to cover banks, trading companies, manufacturers and other creditors. Our two underwriting offices for trade credit are based in Germany, with an underwriting desk in the UK, and Switzerland.

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1 North America

In the United States and Canada, Zurich is a leading commercial property and casualty insurance provider for the global corporate, large corporate, middle market, specialties and programs sectors. We also serve life insurance customers, offering products and services in the retail, affluent and corporate markets.

2 Latin America

We operate across Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

3 Europe

We have major operations in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Switzerland and the UK, and a significant presence in many other European countries.

What our customers say

We are proud of our longstanding partnership with Zurich, with whom we share common values.

Marco Tummarello

Chief Financial Officer Ghella S.p.A.

icon global award
Top 100 Writers of Surety Bonds, as judged by the Surety & Fidelity Association of America, 2023

Over 85% top 100 contractors choose Zurich for insurance protection*

* As of September 2021 and based on ENR 2021 Top 400 Contractors list cross-referenced with Zurich customers with a policy in force during the report year. ENR 400 (Engineering News-Record) rankings are based on construction revenue.

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Related pages

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    International Programs

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    Commercial Insurance Risk Insights

Contact us

Should you have any questions or need further information please reach out to your local Zurich contact or your broker

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Policy language and conditions may vary and are subject to applicable regulatory and legal requirements.
Policy conditions apply and this is not a part of your or any issued insurance contract.