The SFAA’s mission statement explains its goals in regard to the surety industry:
The Surety & Fidelity Association of America is a trade association that performs a leadership role in promoting and preserving the use of fidelity and surety bonds to protect public and private interests.
SFAA history
SFAA was founded in 1908 as the Surety Association of America (SAA). The industry’s Commerical Surety Fundamentals book says the SAA was initially founded to promote interests of the surety market, as well as standardize bond forms across the industry. The group changed its name to the Surety & Fidelity Association of America to emphasize the market’s crucial fidelity component.
SFAA resources
The SFAA provides a number of resources to those associated with the program, including legislative updates, bimonthly newsletters and free educational brochures. The association currently places a strong focus on gathering statistical data from and for companies that issue surety bonds in the U.S. The SFAA also works with the NASBP to promote surety bond use in private construction work through the Surety Information Office.
SFAA membership and subscription services
Surety companies can access SFAA services as full-fledged members if they meet certain qualifications and pay yearly membership fees. Other stakeholders, such as brokers, can access a limited amount of SFAA resources by enrolling in the association’s subscription program. Those not affiliated with the program at all can access certain parts of the association’s website as well as free resources the SFAA provides to the general public.
Surety companies interested in becoming members of the SFAA can download the application form on the association’s website. If approved, members will pay an annual fee based on an assessment that includes a study of the company’s premium writings for the past three years. Non-member subscribers could pay a wide variety of fees depending on the information to which they request access.