Employee theft
The classic fidelity bond. Loss of money, securities and other property caused by the theft or forgery of an employee, acting alone or in collusion with others. The core of the coverage.
Commercial crime coverage · all 52 states & territories
Commercial Crime Policy
A Surety One, Inc. Platform
When the money is gone and the person who took it had a key, this is the policy that pays.
A commercial crime policy is a fidelity bond under its modern name. It reimburses your business, nonprofit or plan for money, securities and property lost to employee theft, forgery, computer fraud, funds transfer fraud and social engineering. Underwritten directly by Surety One.
✓ Fidelity bond, broad form
✓ Social engineering available
✓ Paper or online application
✓ Senior underwriter response
The plain-English version
What a commercial crime policy actually does
A commercial crime policy pays you back when your own money, securities or property is stolen, whether by an employee, a forger, a burglar, a hacker or an impostor on the phone. It is first party coverage: it protects the organization's balance sheet, not someone else's claim against you.
If your organization has employees who handle cash, deposits, payables, payroll, inventory or wire instructions, you carry a fidelity exposure. Occupational fraud is committed by trusted people, it runs for a median of about a year before discovery, and it is rarely recovered from the perpetrator. The property policy you already carry excludes dishonest acts by employees. General liability answers injury and damage claims from outsiders, not the disappearance of your own funds. Cyber forms frequently exclude or sublimit the transfer of money.
The commercial crime policy is the form built for exactly this gap. Written on a discovery basis, it responds to losses uncovered during the policy period, regardless of how long the scheme ran. Add the social engineering endorsement and it also responds when an employee is deceived into sending funds to a criminal posing as a vendor, an executive or a client.
It is not the same instrument as the ERISA fidelity bond your benefit plan must carry, or the FINRA fidelity bond your broker dealer must carry. Those are statutory forms with their own requirements, and we issue them on dedicated sister platforms. The comparison below lays out the difference.
Need the ERISA fidelity bond for your retirement or welfare plan?
Get the ERISA bond at ERISA-Bonds.com →
Federal law requires every person who handles plan funds to be bonded for 10% of the funds handled, at least $1,000 and up to $500,000 ($1,000,000 where employer securities are held). Our sister platform issues DOL compliant ERISA fidelity bonds, usually the same business day, with no underwriting questionnaire for most plans.
The question we answer every week
Fidelity bonds and commercial crime policies: same product, different name
"Is a commercial crime policy the same thing as a fidelity bond?" The answer is a qualified yes, and the history explains the qualification.
A fidelity bond is an insurance policy that indemnifies the insured for loss caused by the dishonest and fraudulent acts of its covered employees. A commercial crime policy is that same fidelity bond, broadened by the surety industry's standards body and issued under a newer name.
The Surety & Fidelity Association of America, the standards organization that has served the surety and fidelity industry since 1908, defines a fidelity bond as a bond that indemnifies the insured for loss caused by the dishonest and fraudulent acts of its covered employees, and notes that the bond typically also covers forgery or alteration, loss inside the premises from theft, disappearance, destruction, robbery and safe burglary, and loss outside the premises from robbery of a messenger. In the SFAA's own words, these coverages are sometimes referred to as crime coverage.
That is the whole story in one paragraph. Several decades ago the SFAA, working with the major national carriers engaged in fidelity bonding, significantly broadened the basic fidelity bond to add forgery and alteration, multiple perils inside the premises, and certain losses outside the premises. The broad form fidelity bond was renamed commercial crime. The SFAA standardized forms are accepted by insurance commissioners in every U.S. jurisdiction as fidelity bonds. When a lender, franchisor, grantor, client contract or state statute requires you to carry a fidelity bond, a commercial crime policy issued on those forms satisfies the requirement.
The qualification is this: the older, narrower instruments still exist for specific statutory purposes. The ERISA fidelity bond and the FINRA fidelity bond are prescribed by federal law and regulation for benefit plans and broker dealers, and they are written on their own forms. Everything else that is called a fidelity bond, a dishonesty bond, an employee dishonesty policy or crime coverage is the product on this page.
Then
The classic fidelity bond
One promise: indemnify the employer for money, securities and property stolen by its own employees. Written as a bond by surety companies, which is why the vocabulary of "bond" and "surety" still clings to the product.
The broadening
SFAA standard forms
The SFAA and the national carriers added forgery or alteration, inside the premises and outside the premises coverage to the basic bond, then later computer fraud and funds transfer fraud. The bond became a multi peril form.
Now
The commercial crime policy
The broad form fidelity bond under its current name, with social engineering and third party coverage available by endorsement. Accepted everywhere a fidelity bond is required, and underwritten here by Surety One.
Surety One, Inc. is a surety and fidelity bond underwriter licensed in all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and one of the largest underwriters of bonds in the North American market. Fidelity bonds for TPAs, MGAs, title agencies, labor unions and other hard to place classes are part of the offer. Its founder, C. Constantin Poindexter, is a thirty year veteran of the insurance industry and the author of The Contractor's Guide to Surety Bonds.
Covered exposures
The insuring agreements a crime policy is built from
Each agreement is a separate promise with its own limit. Select the ones that match how money and property move through your organization.
Forgery or alteration
Loss from forged or altered checks, drafts, promissory notes and similar instruments drawn on your accounts, including the cost of defending a suit over your refusal to pay.
Inside the premises: money and securities
Theft, disappearance or destruction of money and securities inside your premises or a bank, and damage to the premises or a locked safe or vault from an actual or attempted theft.
Inside the premises: other property
Robbery of a custodian, or safe burglary, involving property other than money and securities, such as inventory or equipment taken by force or from a locked safe.
Outside the premises
Money, securities and other property lost to theft, disappearance or destruction while in the care of a messenger or an armored motor vehicle company off your premises.
Computer fraud
Loss resulting directly from the use of a computer to fraudulently transfer money, securities or property from inside the premises or a bank to a person or place outside.
Funds transfer fraud
Loss of funds from your transfer account at a financial institution caused by fraudulent instructions the institution acts upon without your knowledge or consent.
Money orders and counterfeit money
Loss from accepting, in good faith and in exchange for goods or services, money orders that are not paid on presentation or counterfeit currency.
Social engineering (fraudulent impersonation)
By endorsement: loss when an employee is deceived by a criminal impersonating a vendor, client or executive into voluntarily sending funds. The fastest growing crime exposure today.
Three fidelity bonds, three different beneficiaries
Which fidelity bond do I need?
All three are fidelity bonds. The question is whose loss you are insuring: your own, the plan's, or your clients'. Many organizations need more than one.
| Commercial Crime Policy | ERISA Fidelity Bond | Business Services Bond | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it protects | The organization itself: its own money, securities and property. | The employee benefit plan and its participants. | Your customers, for theft of their property by your employees working on their premises. |
| What it covers | Employee theft, forgery, premises and transit theft, computer and funds transfer fraud, counterfeit money; social engineering and client coverage by endorsement. | Loss of plan assets caused by fraud or dishonesty by persons who handle plan funds. | Theft of a client's money or property by an employee of a service contractor (janitorial, home care, pet care, staffing). |
| Required by law? | Voluntary Frequently required by lenders, franchisors, grantors and contracts. | Required Mandated by ERISA section 412 for anyone who handles plan funds. | Voluntary Commonly demanded by commercial clients as a condition of the contract. |
| Typical amount | Sized to the cash, securities and transfer exposure; commonly $100,000 to $1,000,000 and up. | Generally 10% of plan assets, capped at $500,000 ($1,000,000 if employer securities are held). | $10,000 to $100,000 per employee or per occurrence, as the client contract requires. |
| Where to get it | Right here. | ERISA-Bonds.com | Business services bond → |
A commercial crime policy protects you from your own people and from outside criminals. An ERISA bond protects the plan from you. A business services bond protects your clients from your staff. Carrying one does not relieve you of the others.
Exposure by organization
Who needs commercial crime coverage
Anyone whose employees touch money, inventory or payment instructions. The exposure follows access, not size.
Nonprofits & associations
Lean staff, volunteer treasurers and donor funds make charities the most frequent fidelity claimant. Grantors and auditors increasingly require the coverage.
Professional firms
Law, accounting, title and advisory firms hold client and trust funds. Third party (client) coverage is available by endorsement.
Property managers & HOAs
Managers control owner and association reserves. Many state statutes and management agreements require fidelity coverage in stated amounts.
Contractors & distributors
Field crews, inventory, equipment and vendor payables create classic embezzlement and diversion exposure.
Specialty lenders & funders
Merchant cash advance, factoring and consumer finance operations move funds daily and are targeted by both insiders and impostors.
Employee benefit plans
The plan itself needs a statutory ERISA fidelity bond, not a crime policy. Get it in minutes at ERISA-Bonds.com. The sponsor still needs this policy for its own funds.
Broker dealers
FINRA Rule 4360 requires every member firm to carry a fidelity bond on the SFAA Form 14. It is a fidelity bond, issued on its own form. Get it at BrokerDealerBond.com.
Mortgage bankers & lenders
The mortgage banker bond required by investors and state regulators carries fidelity elements alongside its errors and omissions coverage. Get it at MortgageBankersBond.com.
Service businesses on client premises
Janitorial, home care, pet sitting, handyman, moving and similar trades need the business services bond, a third party fidelity bond of $5,000 to $100,000 that protects their clients. No background checks, no declined applicants.
Any business with a bookkeeper
One person who opens the mail, cuts the checks and reconciles the bank statement is the single most common fraud profile in the claims data.
Scope at a glance
What's covered — and what isn't
The policy answers theft and fraud against you. It is not a substitute for controls, and it does not cover the owner's own hand in the till.
Typically covered
- Theft of money, securities and property by employees
- Forged or altered checks and instruments drawn on your accounts
- Robbery, burglary and disappearance on the premises
- Theft from a messenger or armored carrier off the premises
- Fraudulent computer transfers and funds transfer instructions
- Counterfeit currency and dishonored money orders
- Social engineering and impersonation losses (endorsement)
- Client property in your care (third party endorsement)
Commonly excluded
- Acts of the insured, its partners, members or majority owners
- Acts by an employee after you learned of a prior dishonest act
- Indirect or consequential loss, including lost income
- Inventory shortage proven only by inventory computation
- Trading losses and losses from authorized transactions
- Data, trade secrets and confidential information
- Legal fees and expenses unless added by endorsement
- Loss known to the applicant before coverage began
How the Surety One policy is structured
The mechanics worth understanding before you bind
Crime forms have a few structural features that decide whether a loss is paid — and how much. Know them before you choose a limit.
Trigger
Discovery or loss sustained
A discovery form pays loss discovered during the policy period whenever it occurred, subject to any retroactive date. A loss sustained form requires the loss to occur and be discovered within the policy period or its extended discovery period. Discovery is broader, and it is our default.
Occurrence
One scheme, one limit
All loss caused by a single employee, or by a series of related acts, is a single occurrence subject to one limit and one deductible, regardless of how many years the scheme ran. Size the limit to the aggregate a trusted employee could divert, not to one transaction.
Termination
Coverage ends when you know
The moment you or a partner, officer or manager learns of a dishonest act by an employee, coverage as to that employee terminates. Prior act knowledge is also a condition of the application, so answer it carefully.
Conditions
Callback and control warranties
Social engineering endorsements usually require out of band verification of changed payment instructions. Underwriters price to segregation of duties, dual authorization, bank reconciliation by a second person and outside audit.
5%
Of annual revenue lost to occupational fraud
(ACFE global estimate)
(ACFE global estimate)
$145K
Median loss per occupational fraud case
(ACFE Report to the Nations, 2024)
(ACFE Report to the Nations, 2024)
52
States + territories
served
served
Same day
Underwriting file opened
on submission
on submission
Why the exposure is rising
The fraud that put every accounts payable desk on notice
The single biggest driver of crime claims today is fraudulent instruction: business email compromise, spoofed vendor invoices, changed wire instructions and executive impersonation. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported nearly $3 billion in business email compromise losses in 2023 alone, and the schemes have only grown more convincing as criminals adopt generative tools to clone voices and writing styles.
These losses fall in a gap. Standard computer fraud coverage responds when a criminal breaks in and moves the money. It does not respond when your own employee, deceived, moves it voluntarily. That is the social engineering endorsement's job, and it is why we write it on nearly every policy we issue.
One caution. The computer fraud, funds transfer fraud and social engineering agreements of a crime policy pay for stolen money. They are not a replacement for cyber coverage, which answers the rest of a breach: forensic investigation, notification and credit monitoring, regulatory defense and fines, data restoration, business interruption, extortion payments and third party liability. A business exposed to both needs both. See our sister platform, CyberRiskPolicy.com.
Meanwhile the old exposure has not gone anywhere. Occupational fraud by trusted insiders continues to run for a median of twelve months before discovery, and the typical scheme is uncovered by a tip, not an audit. Strong controls — documented segregation of duties, second person bank reconciliation, dual authorization above a threshold and mandatory callback on changed payment instructions — both reduce the odds of a loss and improve the terms underwriters can offer. We underwrite to those signals.
What it costs
How commercial crime premium is priced
Coverage is inexpensive relative to the exposure it answers. Premium is built from your operation and controls, not a flat rate.
Standard risks · annual premium
Hundreds to low thousands
Limits of $100,000 to $1,000,000 at small and midsized organizations with sound controls and a clean loss history.
High velocity operations · annual premium
Materially higher
Lenders, funders, cash intensive retailers, large payrolls and organizations with prior losses are priced, and scrutinized, accordingly.
What underwriters weigh
- Number of employees and number handling funds
- Cash, securities and inventory on hand
- Volume and frequency of wire and ACH transfers
- Segregation of duties and dual controls
- Outside audit and bank reconciliation practice
- Loss history and prior knowledge of dishonesty
- Requested limit and deductible
- Social engineering and third party endorsements
- Industry and number of locations
Figures are general market ranges for orientation only, not a quote. Your premium is determined by the underwriting file. Surety One is not a tax or legal advisor; coverage questions specific to your operation should be reviewed with qualified counsel.
Getting started
Apply your way — online or on paper
Both paths reach the same senior Surety One underwriters. Choose whichever fits how you work.
Fastest
Online application
Choose the commercial crime application, the third party fidelity bond application or the business services bond application, then complete it in your browser. Submitted straight to underwriting as a signed PDF — no printing, no scanning.
- Three applications, the same questions as the paper forms
- Internal control answers checked for eligibility as you go
- Routed to a senior underwriter on submission
Paper applications (PDF)
Prefer to print, complete by hand or fill on-screen, and sign? Download the official Surety One form and return it by email, fax or mail.
- Commercial crime small business coverage application
- Third party fidelity bond application
- Business services (dishonesty) bond application
- Email: underwriting@suretyone.com
- Fax: 919-834-7039
- Mail: P.O. Box 37284, Raleigh, NC 27627
- Specialized class? Add the matching supplemental questionnaire
- Puerto Rico: 404 Av. de la Constitución, #708, San Juan, PR 00901 · 787-333-0222
Class specific supplements
Supplemental questionnaires for specialized fidelity risks
Certain classes carry exposures the standard application does not reach. If your organization is one of these, complete the matching questionnaire and send it with your application. It is the first thing the underwriter will ask for.
Attorney fidelity questionnaire
Law firms that hold client funds in escrow, trust or any fiduciary capacity. Dual control over client accounts, who can move money alone, and how often trust accounts are reconciled and by whom.
Hospital loss control questionnaire
Hospitals and healthcare facilities. Security force, patient property held for safekeeping, cafeteria, gift shop and parking cash, and pharmacy and narcotics controls.
Insurance company loss control supplement
Insurance carriers. Employment practices, audit, receipts, disbursements and check stock, EFT, reconciliation, investments, policy loans, claim drafts and purchasing.
MGA / program manager questionnaire
Managing general agents and program administrators. Carrier programs, premium trust accounts, remittance procedures, agreement terms and reconciliation reporting.
Third party administrator questionnaire
TPAs that collect premium or pay claims for clients. Outside audit, client audits, premium handling and sweeps, claim authority levels, countersignature and fictitious claim controls.
Trucking firm questionnaire
Motor carriers. Commodities hauled, driver screening, cash collected by drivers and daily remittance, and whether independent contractor drivers are to be covered.
Warehouse & inventory control questionnaire
Operators of their own or third party warehouses. Written inventory procedure, physical counts, receiving and shipping segregation, customer storage controls and physical security.
Business services (dishonesty) bond application
The one page application for small denomination third party fidelity bonds, $5,000 to $250,000, for janitorial, home care, pet sitting, handyman, moving and similar service businesses. No credit or background checks. See the business services bond page.
Third party fidelity bond application
For coverage of your employees' theft from your clients: consultants, attorneys, IT and software firms, general contractors and other businesses working on a contract basis on client premises. Higher limits and professional classes; the small denomination version is the business services bond application.
Return completed questionnaires to Underwriting@SuretyOne.com or by fax to 919-834-7039. Do not see your class? Non standard and hard to place fidelity risks are welcome; call (800) 373-2804.
Questions we hear weekly
Commercial crime insurance FAQ
Is a commercial crime policy the same as a fidelity bond?
Yes, with one qualification. A fidelity bond indemnifies the insured for loss caused by the dishonest and fraudulent acts of its covered employees. Several decades ago the Surety & Fidelity Association of America, together with the major national carriers, broadened the basic fidelity bond to add forgery or alteration, loss inside the premises from multiple perils and certain losses outside the premises, and renamed the broad form "commercial crime." The SFAA standardized forms are accepted by all U.S. insurance commissioners as fidelity bonds, so a commercial crime policy satisfies a fidelity bond requirement. The qualification: the ERISA fidelity bond and the FINRA fidelity bond are statutory instruments on their own forms, issued on our sister platforms.
What is commercial crime insurance?
It is first party coverage that reimburses a business, nonprofit or plan for its own loss of money, securities and other property caused by employee theft, forgery or alteration, theft on or off the premises, computer fraud, funds transfer fraud and counterfeit currency. Social engineering and third party (client) coverage are available by endorsement. It pays you; it does not defend you against someone else's claim.
Does my general liability or property policy cover employee theft?
No. Commercial property forms exclude dishonest acts by employees, and general liability responds to third party bodily injury and property damage claims, not to the theft of your own money. Cyber policies often exclude or sublimit funds transfer and social engineering losses. The crime policy is the form built for these exposures.
What is the difference between discovery and loss sustained forms?
A discovery form covers loss discovered during the policy period regardless of when the theft occurred, subject to any retroactive date. A loss sustained form covers loss that both occurred and was discovered during the policy period or the extended discovery period, with a prior insurance provision that can reach back to a predecessor policy. Discovery forms are broader and generally preferred.
Does the policy cover social engineering and business email compromise?
Standard computer fraud and funds transfer fraud agreements respond when a criminal breaks in and moves money without authorization. When an employee is deceived into voluntarily sending funds, coverage requires the social engineering (fraudulent impersonation) endorsement, usually written with a sublimit and a callback verification condition. We offer it, and recommend it.
How much does it cost?
For many small and midsized organizations with sound controls, a policy with limits between $100,000 and $1,000,000 commonly costs a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per year. Pricing turns on employee count, cash and securities handling, the strength of internal controls, the limit and deductible selected, loss history and whether social engineering or third party coverage is added.
What does the policy not cover?
Typical exclusions include acts committed by the insured or its partners and members, acts by an employee after the insured learned of a prior dishonest act by that employee, indirect and consequential loss, inventory shortages proven only by an inventory computation, trading losses, data and confidential information, and legal fees and expenses unless added by endorsement.
How do I apply?
Two ways. Complete our guided online application in your browser and it routes straight to underwriting, or download the paper application, sign it, and return it by email, fax or mail. Either way a senior Surety One underwriter opens your file the same business day. Signing an application does not bind coverage.
Definitions
Fidelity and commercial crime terms, defined
The vocabulary underwriters, brokers and bond forms use, in one place.
- Fidelity bond
- An insurance policy, historically written as a bond by surety companies, that indemnifies an employer for loss of money, securities or property caused by the dishonest or fraudulent acts of its employees. The SFAA broadened the form and renamed it commercial crime.
- Commercial crime policy
- The broad form fidelity bond under its current name: employee theft plus forgery or alteration, inside and outside the premises, computer fraud, funds transfer fraud and counterfeit money, with social engineering and third party coverage by endorsement.
- Employee theft
- The core insuring agreement: loss resulting directly from theft or forgery committed by an employee, acting alone or in collusion with others.
- Discovery form
- A crime form that covers loss discovered during the policy period regardless of when the loss occurred, subject to any retroactive date. Broader than a loss sustained form.
- Loss sustained form
- A crime form that covers only loss that both occurs and is discovered during the policy period or its extended discovery period, with a prior insurance provision that may reach back to a predecessor policy.
- An endorsement covering loss when an employee is deceived by a criminal impersonating a vendor, client or executive into voluntarily transferring money. Not covered by standard computer fraud or funds transfer fraud agreements.
- Funds transfer fraud
- Loss of funds from the insured's transfer account caused by fraudulent instructions to a financial institution, acted upon without the insured's knowledge or consent.
- Third party fidelity bond
- A fidelity bond that pays the insured's clients, rather than the insured, for theft of client money or property by the insured's employees on the client's premises. Written contract specific or blanket.
- Business services bond
- A small denomination third party fidelity bond, also called a dishonesty bond, for janitorial, home care, pet sitting, handyman and similar service businesses. It is what a business means when it advertises as bonded.
- ERISA fidelity bond
- The statutory bond required by ERISA section 412 of every person who handles employee benefit plan funds, generally 10% of funds handled, capped at $500,000 or $1,000,000 where employer securities are held. Issued on its own form.
- Conviction clause
- A provision common in small business services bonds that conditions payment of a dishonesty claim on the criminal conviction of the offending employee; where allowed, an indictment clause substitutes indictment.
- Separation of duties
- The internal control standard fidelity underwriters require: someone other than the person who reconciles the bank accounts must make deposits, make withdrawals and sign checks. Without it a fidelity risk does not qualify.
Protect the money your people touch
Start the online application, or send the paper form to underwriting. A senior Surety One underwriter will respond today.