Bond Management for Surety Companies

Surety companies use NMLS to create, execute, manage, and maintain Electronic Surety Bonds (ESBs) throughout their lifecycle. This section describes the actions and responsibilities involved in managing bonds electronically within NMLS.

Bond management in NMLS encompasses all activities a surety company performs to support the Electronic Surety Bond (ESB) lifecycle. These activities include bond creation and execution, conversion of paper bonds, issuing riders or endorsements, managing cancellations, responding to regulator returns, and completing renewals and updates. Each action ensures that bond data within NMLS remains current and accurately reflects active regulatory obligations.

Overview of surety company bond responsibilities

  • Create new ESBs in collaboration with the associated surety bond producer.
  • Execute and deliver ESBs to the appropriate regulator once all required signatures are complete.
  • Manage riders, cancellations, and revisions throughout the life of the bond.
  • Respond promptly to regulator returns or corrections.
  • Maintain data integrity for bond numbering, active status, and renewal tracking.

Surety company and bond producer collaboration

Most ESB actions in NMLS require coordinated activity between a surety company and a surety bond producer. For example, a producer may draft or edit a bond that the surety company must review and execute before submission to the regulator. Similarly, both parties are notified when a bond is returned, canceled, or renewed.

Note: Because ESB records are shared between the surety company, surety bond producer, and regulator, all parties see status changes in real time. This transparency helps prevent duplicate submissions and ensures data consistency across entities.

Use the links in the left Table of Contents to find the topics related to bond management in this guide.

Note: Only surety company users have access to administrative processes such as handling special bond cases and managing bond number reuse. These topics appear exclusively in the Surety Company Guide.