In this presentation, National Association of Surety Bond Producers President Todd Loehnert discusses the nature of the surety bond industry from 2008 to 2009.

To begin the presentation, Loehnert reflects on the accomplishments and challenges the surety industry faced in 2008. He then goes on to list the year's top 10 underwriters.

In his early assessments, Loehnert discusses the following positive and negative aspects of the surety industry in 2009, which include:

• increasing profitability
• decreasing revenue projections
• disappearing backlogs
• growing bidder lists
• concerning marketshare mentality and underwriting discipline
• increasing losses, defaults, inflation and interest rates.
• growing large, regional and community bank stability

Based on these developments in 2009, Loehnert has a decidedly negative outlook for the surety industry in year 2010. When it comes to developing an outlook for the next three to five years, Loehnert feels that the situation is still "too foggy to tell."

Loehnert continues to explain how bond companies can do their part to ensure the future success of the industry. By taking certain measures, such as increasing the percentage of construction clients and participating in the SBA program, bond companies can make a change for the better. On the same note, Loehnert also offers advice to contractors and other business professionals. To conclude the presentation, Loehnert discusses various statistics from the previous year and uses his expertise to anticipate industry figures in the years to come.