Glossary

Superfund is the program operated under the legislative authority of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act as well as the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 that funds and carries out Environmental Protection Agency solid waste emergency and long-term removal and remedial activities.

A superseded surety rider is a provision or endorsement on a bond under which the surety company assumes liability for claims that cannot be recovered from a prior bond because of the lapse of the discovery period.

A supplemental employee retirement plan is a nonqualified retirement program—that is, one not subject to ERISA.

Supplemental extended reporting period refers to the optional extended reporting period (of unlimited duration) under the standard claims-made commercial general liability policy.

A supplementary contract is an agreement between a life insurance company and a policyholder or beneficiary by which the insurer retains the cash sum payable under the policy and makes payments in accordance with the settlement option chosen.

Supplementary payments is a term used in liability policies for the costs associated with the investigation and resolution of claims.

A surety guarantees the performance of another party by agreeing to stand in the place of its principal if the principal fails to do what it has promised to do. The contract through which the guarantee is executed is called a surety bond.

A surety bond is a contract under which one party (the surety) guarantees the performance of certain obligations of a second party (the principal) to a third party (the obligee).

Surplus is the amount by which an insurer's assets exceed its liabilities.

A surplus debenture is a debt instrument accounted for as equity under statutory accounting rules, used when investors loan surplus to an insurer rather than posting a letter of credit.