- Before
- Reads 6–9 broker wordings a day in two windows. “The dangerous change is never the new clause. It’s the two words that went missing from the old one.”
- Now
- Starts from 13 aligned, rated differences with a plain-words note on each, and signs one wording decision with every approval already on the file.
One cyber wording, from the broker’s draft to agreed
Halvorsen Freight Systems, a trucking and freight-brokerage platform, needs a $10M primary cyber layer. Ashgrove Specialty leads it for 60%, binding on Friday 30 October. The wholesale broker sends its own manuscript wording instead of Ashgrove’s form. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
- 01Morning
Nine wordings waiting, ordered by bind date
Imogen Hartley · Senior wordings specialistImogen opens Wordings in: nine broker and manuscript wordings across cyber, D&O, marine cargo, energy, construction, product recall and excess casualty. Top of the list is Halvorsen Freight Systems — CB CyberShield 2026 from Calloway Brandt, binding Fri 30 Oct, in 3 days, with 13 differences and 6 that need an approver.
Each wording is compared with its standard form the moment it arrives.
- 02On arrival
Both wordings read and aligned by meaning
Wording reader · Clause alignerThe wording reader splits CB CyberShield 2026 into 63 clauses and 2 endorsements over 38 pages, and ASC-CY 04/26 into 62 clauses over 34 pages, keeping page and line for each. The clause aligner pairs 61 of them by meaning, not by number — 14 renumbered, 3 moved — and finds 1 clause missing and 2 new. Every step shows in the run log as it runs.
Run on this wording: 3 min 40 s, from the first page read to the last replacement clause offered.
- 033 min 40 s later
Two words gone from the war exclusion
Imogen Hartley · Senior wordings specialistThe compare puts the broker’s text beside Ashgrove’s form, clause by clause: 51 same, 10 changed, 1 missing, 2 new. Identical clauses fold into bands like “5 same clauses · word for word”, so the eye lands on the differences. In clause 4.3, War, cyber war and cyber operation, the redline shows two words struck through: “or indirectly”.
“Widens coverage for state-backed attacks.”
- 04Beside the redline
What the change does to coverage, in plain words
Coverage effect writerSwitched to Margin notes, the broker’s wording reads as one document with a note pinned beside every change. For 4.3: “Malware that spreads from the state’s real target to Halvorsen’s systems — how most spill-over losses arise — is no longer excluded.” The note cites your form on page 17 and the broker’s on page 21, and adds the accumulation: 1,284 cyber policies in the book carry the full wording; this would be the first without it.
The coverage effect writer describes. It never says a change is acceptable — people decide.
- 05Next difference
A cloud outage, quietly moved inside the full limit
Coverage effect writerClause 1.14, Computer system, gains 13 words: “or any system operated for the insured by a service provider”. The note explains the effect — a service provider’s outage now pays as business interruption at the full $10M limit, not under the $2.5M dependent sublimit in clause 2.4 — and that Halvorsen runs dispatch and load matching on two hosted platforms. The ransom payment clause, renumbered and moved, is matched anyway and rated neutral.
- 06Routed
Six material changes, each to the person whose authority covers it
Authority checkerThe authority checker tests all 13 differences against wording guidelines v2026.3. Six are material. War and infrastructure go to Delphine Okoro, Head of Cyber; computer system, notice of claim and betterment to Tomas Reyna, cyber class underwriter; sanctions to Rafael Mendel, legal counsel. Beside each one: the rule that routed it, such as WG-04, “Approved clause ASC-W 03 only. Any change, however small → Head of Cyber”.
“The authority checker routes; it never approves. Seven other differences are within the guidelines and need no approver.”
- 07Approved
The approvers decide, on the clause in front of them
Delphine Okoro · Head of CyberEach approver sees the clause, the redline and the note. Tomas approves the $2.5M dependent sublimit on 1.14, a counter at 60 days on 5.2 and a $250,000 betterment sublimit on 3.6. Rafael approves replacing the broker’s sanctions text with ASC-S 01. Delphine declines both of her deviations: reinstate “or indirectly” in 4.3 and the infrastructure exclusion in 4.9. Every approval carries a name and a time.
- 08One reply
One counter-wording for all 13 differences
Clause suggesterThe clause suggester drafts the reply to Calloway Brandt from the approved library: 4 replacement clauses redlined against the broker’s text, 2 changes accepted with a condition, 5 accepted as written, and 2 courtesy flags. The flags are narrower changes that hurt Halvorsen, not Ashgrove — about 340 seasonal and agency drivers who would fall outside “insured person”, and bills of lading kept on paper at 14 depots that could no longer be re-keyed under data restoration.
Replacement clauses come only from the approved library; anything drafted is marked “needs legal”.
- 09Signed · before bind
The wording decision, signed on the file
Imogen Hartley · Senior wordings specialistFive checks have passed: all 13 differences answered, 6 of 6 material changes approved, replacement clauses from the approved library, cover note matching the schedule, bind date before inception. Imogen signs the wording decision — CB CyberShield 2026 accepted with 4 replacement clauses and 2 conditions — and the counter goes to Oliver Penhale at Calloway Brandt. The broker accepts, and the wording is agreed 3 days before inception.
A wording decision is never signed with an open material change.
- 10Every month
Contract certainty, and a look back at what was bound
Niamh Cardew · Contract certainty analystThe certainty screen tracks wordings agreed and signed before inception, by month: 71% in May, 78% in June and 84% in July, when they were checked by eye; 93% in August, when comparison went live, and 97% in September. A look-back re-read this year’s bound cyber wordings and found the infrastructure exclusion absent in three; two have no approval on file, ready to send to Delphine.