What is Bordereaux?
A bordereaux is a detailed cession or premium report submitted by an MGA or coverholder to its capacity carrier or reinsurer, listing every policy bound during the reporting period with key data fields — insured, premium, coverage limits, expiry date, and loss activity — enabling delegated authority oversight and reinsurance accounting.
The bordereaux (from the French word for "list" or "schedule") is the primary reporting mechanism through which carriers and reinsurers monitor the business written on their behalf by MGAs and coverholders. In the delegated underwriting market, the carrier grants binding authority and in return requires structured, regular reporting of every risk bound under that authority.
There are two main types: the premium bordereaux, which lists all policies bound and renewed in the reporting period with their premium and coverage details, and the claims bordereaux, which reports all open and closed losses with current reserve levels. Most DUAs require monthly submission of both, with quarterly summary reports for performance reviews.
A well-structured bordereaux typically includes: policy number, insured name and address, inception and expiry dates, class of business, sum insured or limit of liability, premium (gross, net of commission), deductible or self-insured retention, reinsurance cession percentage, and current claims information. Lloyd's coverholders must adhere to specific bordereaux data standards defined by Lloyd's Market Association, which require electronic submission in prescribed formats.
The bordereaux enables the capacity provider to: (1) validate that risks comply with the DUA parameters, (2) calculate reinsurance cessions and premium remittances, (3) monitor aggregate exposure by territory, class, and risk characteristic, (4) track developing loss ratios by accident year, and (5) identify concentration risk that may require treaty adjustments.
In practice, bordereaux production is a significant operational burden for MGA teams. Many MGAs still produce bordereaux manually from policy management system exports, requiring hours of spreadsheet manipulation to meet carrier format requirements — a process that is error-prone and often leaves the carrier working with data that is days or weeks stale.
Orb's structured decision memos capture all the data fields required for bordereaux production at the point of bind — insured details, coverage structure, premium, limits, and loss history flags. By standardising data capture upstream, Orb reduces the end-of-month bordereaux reconciliation burden from a multi-day manual effort to an automated export. Coastal Risk MGA's Lloyd's coverholder quarterly reporting requirements are now satisfied directly from Orb's audit trail without additional preparation.
Frequently asked questions
How often must MGAs submit bordereaux to their carriers?
Most DUAs require monthly premium and claims bordereaux, with quarterly performance summaries. Lloyd's coverholders are subject to Lloyd's Market Association data standards requiring electronic submission within specific timeframes — typically within 60 days of the reporting month end for premium bordereaux and within 30 days for large losses.
What happens if an MGA submits an inaccurate bordereaux?
Inaccurate bordereaux can trigger a DUA audit, result in premium remittance disputes, cause reinsurance accounting errors, and damage the MGA's relationship with its capacity providers. Persistent reporting failures are grounds for authority suspension or termination. Carriers may also require an independent audit of the MGA's underwriting files.
Is bordereaux reporting the same as reinsurance accounting?
They are closely related but not identical. The bordereaux is the underlying policy-level data; reinsurance accounting uses that data to calculate cessions, calculate reinsurance premiums due, and settle loss recoveries. The claims bordereaux feeds directly into treaty reinsurance loss reporting, which is why data accuracy and timeliness are critical.