NAIC Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers: checking eligibility at bind

The NAIC Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers is the list, published four times a year by the International Insurers Department of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, of insurers domiciled outside the United States that have filed under the department's Plan of Operation and been admitted to it. It matters because federal law forbids any state to stop a surplus lines broker from placing business with an alien insurer that is on it. Edition 253, dated 1 October 2026, lists 88 alien companies and 104 Lloyd's syndicates, and like every edition it added and deleted names: one syndicate in, one out, five changes of managing agent. A placement with a non-U.S. market is therefore checked against the edition in force on the day it binds, with the edition number kept on the file, and the footnotes read as carefully as the names. Botminds' Surplus Lines Filing Compliance treats insurer eligibility as a box on every placement's home-state checklist, ticked only with the list it was checked against and the date.

Figures are counted from the NAIC's own July and October 2026 editions, linked where used. Product screens show a fictional sample wholesale broker.

What is the NAIC Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers?

It is the NAIC's register of non-U.S. insurers that meet its International Insurers Department's criteria. In the publication's own words, “The alien insurers that appear in this publication have filed various documents with the NAIC International Insurers Department (IID) as set forth in the IID Plan of Operation (The Plan) and have been admitted to the Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers (Quarterly Listing)” (NAIC, edition 253). Admission follows “satisfying the criteria set forth in The Plan”, and the Plan and its application instructions sit on the NAIC's Surplus Lines (C) Working Group pages.

Each edition has the same structure: an introduction with the NAIC's cautions, a section headed “Amendments Since Last Edition” listing additions, deletions, name changes and Lloyd's managing agent changes, the Alien Company Listing with each insurer's alien ID and country, the Lloyd's of London Syndicate Listing with each syndicate's number and managing agent, and footnotes. The footnotes carry restrictions that the names alone do not.

Why does federal law make the listing matter?

Because a listed alien insurer cannot be shut out by any state. Under the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act, a state may not “prohibit a surplus lines broker from placing nonadmitted insurance with, or procuring nonadmitted insurance from, a nonadmitted insurer domiciled outside the United States that is listed on the Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers maintained by the International Insurers Department of the NAIC” (15 U.S.C. § 8204(2)). For insurers domiciled in the United States, the same section ties eligibility to the NAIC model act's standards instead.

The federal rule is a floor that states build on differently. Texas makes the listing a requirement: “An alien surplus lines insurer must be listed on the Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers maintained by the International Insurers Department, National Association of Insurance Commissioners” (Tex. Ins. Code § 981.058). Illinois, in the text captured in April 2025, accepts an alien insurer that either meets the standards it sets for U.S. insurers or “is listed on the Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers maintained by the International Insurers Department of the NAIC at the time of procurement” (215 ILCS 5/445(1.5)(c)). Florida keeps its own list of eligible surplus lines insurers, published by its Office of Insurance Regulation, and requires an alien insurer to maintain a U.S. trust fund of at least $5.4 million (Fla. Stat. § 626.918(2)(c), (3)).

How often is the NAIC alien insurer list updated?

Quarterly, and it can change in between: the 2026 editions read for this guide are dated 1 July and 1 October and numbered 252 and 253. Every edition says the same thing about its own life: “This Quarterly Listing remains in effect until publication of the next Quarterly Listing or until any published modification” (NAIC, edition 252, July 2026). That sentence makes the date of the check part of the check: an answer from the July edition is valid for a July bind and may be wrong for an October one.

The changes are small and they are exactly the ones that slip through. A quote or slip prepared before an edition changed can still name a deleted syndicate, and a renamed managing agent can make a slip look as if it names a different market. A file that records only “Lloyd's” or a trading name cannot be checked against either edition.

Are Lloyd's syndicates on the NAIC quarterly listing?

Yes, one by one. The listing has a separate Lloyd's of London Syndicate Listing, with domicile United Kingdom, giving each syndicate's alien ID, number, name and managing agent; edition 253 lists 104 of them. Some are “incidental” syndicates attached to a parent, and the NAIC explains them in a footnote: “Incidental syndicates have the same constitution as a parent syndicate. These syndicates maintain trust funds in their own right” (edition 253, footnote 2).

Because syndicates join and leave individually, the eligibility check for a Lloyd's placement is by syndicate number, for every syndicate on the slip. In 2026 syndicate 1966 left the listing in July and syndicate 1110 in October, while syndicate 1987 joined in October; a subscription slip with syndicate 1110 or 1987 on it needed a different answer in the first days of October from the one it got in September.

Being on the listing is not the whole answer: read the footnotes

Some listed names carry limits that only the footnotes state, and the NAIC itself tells brokers that state law still governs. Three footnotes in edition 253 make the point. One company “is licensed in the state of Texas as a Mexican Casualty Company and is ineligible to sell in the Texas surplus lines market.” Another “is in run off and is not considered eligible to sell in any state’s surplus lines market”; it is on the listing only as successor to a trust fund. A third “is limited to write international travel medical insurance for individuals that reside in jurisdictions that allow such medical insurance to be written on a surplus lines basis” (footnotes 1, 3 and 4).

The NAIC cannot and does not guarantee its accuracy and assumes no responsibility for loss or damage resulting from the use of this information. … Surplus lines brokers using this Publication must observe applicable State insurance laws and regulations. The alien insurers on the Quarterly Listing are not considered an endorsement by the NAIC.

NAIC Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers, edition 253

So the check has three parts, not one: the insurer or syndicate is on the edition in force, no footnote excludes this state or this line, and the home state's own rules are met. In Florida that last part means the Office's eligible list; in Texas, the stamping office must provide evidence to the department that the insurer meets the eligibility requirements before an agent places coverage with it (§ 981.210).

What happens if an insurer is removed from the quarterly listing?

The listing does not say; the home state's statute does, and the Texas text answers the question most brokers ask. An eligible surplus lines insurer may provide the insurance only if it meets the eligibility requirements “as of the inception date and annual anniversary date of each insurance contract, cover note, or other confirmation of insurance” (§ 981.004(a)(3)), and the commissioner may order the revocation of a contract issued by an eligible surplus lines insurer that does not meet them (§ 981.064). In Texas, then, a deletion matters at the next inception and at each anniversary of a multi-year contract, not only for new business.

Illinois' test, as captured, is “at the time of procurement”. Other states phrase it differently or leave it to regulation, so the safe practice is to check at bind, at each renewal and at each anniversary, and to record the edition used each time. Where a placement's insurer has dropped off between bind and an anniversary, the decision about what to do with the contract belongs to a licensed person with the statute in front of them, not to a list.

What is the NAIC International Insurers Department?

The NAIC unit that publishes the listing and admits insurers to it under its Plan of Operation. The listing directs questions about company contacts and addresses to the NAIC's international analysis staff, and the Plan and its application materials are published on the pages of the NAIC's Surplus Lines (C) Working Group. The department does not license anyone: the listing is, in its own words, not an endorsement, and the NAIC does not attempt to analyse the political stability of the domiciliary country or its diplomatic relationship with the United States.

Where do I find the latest NAIC quarterly listing, and how do I keep the check on file?

On the NAIC's website, as a PDF published each quarter under a name that carries the month and year, such as the October 2026 edition linked on this page. Illinois' statute requires its Director to “make the Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers available to surplus line producers without charge” (215 ILCS 5/445(1.5)(c)). Search engines often return an older edition first; the edition number and date on page 2 are the only reliable test of which one you have.

How Surplus Lines Filing Compliance records the eligibility check

On every placement, insurer eligibility is a box on the home state's checklist, and like every box it is ticked with its source: which list, for which state, checked on which date. In the fictional sample, the Marisol Cold Storage checklist reads that its insurer is on California's list of eligible non-admitted insurers, checked on 12 October. For a placement with an alien insurer, the same box should name the NAIC edition and the syndicate numbers, and the deadline watcher brings the placement back at renewal and anniversary so the check is repeated rather than inherited.

Carrier eligibility as a box on the checklist, with its source and date

The eligibility check in the agents' run on one placement

What the solution does not do is decide whether an existing contract with a deleted insurer must be cancelled or replaced; it flags the change and the licensed filer or compliance manager decides. To see the check on your own non-U.S. placements, start from Surplus Lines Filing Compliance; for the other rules each home state applies, see surplus lines filing requirements by state, and for the file that proves the check was made, surplus lines audit requirements.

Questions people ask

What is the NAIC Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers?

A list published each quarter by the NAIC's International Insurers Department of non-U.S. insurers, including individual Lloyd's syndicates, that have filed under its Plan of Operation and been admitted to it. Under 15 U.S.C. § 8204(2), no state may prohibit a surplus lines broker from placing business with an alien insurer on the list.

Can a surplus lines broker place with an alien insurer not on the NAIC list?

It depends on the home state. Texas requires alien surplus lines insurers to be on the listing; Illinois, as captured in 2025, also accepts an alien insurer that meets its standards for U.S. insurers, including $15 million of policyholder surplus; Florida applies its own eligibility rules and list. Federal law protects listed insurers but does not itself forbid others.

Are Lloyd's syndicates on the NAIC quarterly listing?

Yes, individually, in a separate Lloyd's of London Syndicate Listing: edition 253 of 1 October 2026 lists 104 syndicates with their numbers and managing agents. Syndicates are added and deleted one at a time, as syndicate 1987 was added and syndicate 1110 deleted in that edition.

What happens if an insurer is removed from the quarterly listing?

The home state's law decides. Texas requires eligibility at the inception date and each annual anniversary of the contract and lets the commissioner order revocation of a contract issued by an insurer that no longer meets the requirements; Illinois tests at the time of procurement. Check again at each renewal and anniversary.

How often is the NAIC alien insurer list published?

Quarterly; the July and October 2026 editions are numbers 252 and 253, dated 1 July and 1 October. Each remains in effect until the next edition or a published modification, so a check should record the edition and date it used.

Does a listing on the NAIC quarterly listing mean an insurer is financially sound?

No. The NAIC says it cannot and does not guarantee the listing's accuracy, that listed insurers are not endorsed, and that it does not analyse the political stability of the insurer's home country. Brokers also have their own duty in some states: Texas requires a reasonable effort to determine an eligible insurer's financial condition before placing.