Guarantees & surety
Seguro de Caución
The Spanish surety instrument, written on our own paper under ramo 15 of the DGSFP register: guarantees admitted for the garantía provisional and definitiva in public procurement, for an aplazamiento of tax debt and for grid access and connection — outside the bank facility that funds the work.
Boland’s Quay, Dublin · William Murphy, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who it is for
Spanish contractors, developers, renewables promoters and trading companies, and the brokers who place their security
What it does
- Admitted by Ley 9/2017 for the garantía provisional and the garantía definitiva, beside cash, securities and the bank aval
- Certificado de seguro de caución accepted as security for an aplazamiento or fraccionamiento of tax debt
- Lodged with the Caja General de Depósitos or the regional treasury, on the model each prescribes, in Spanish
- Security for grid access and connection, permits and decommissioning on solar, wind and storage projects
- Sits outside the banking relationship: the credit line that funds plant, materials and payroll is untouched
- Issued by the insurer that carries the risk, against capital published in full every year
The product in full
A seguro de caución is a contract of insurance in its own right, defined in article 68 of the Ley de Contrato de Seguro: if the policyholder — the tomador — fails to meet a legal or contractual obligation, the insurer indemnifies the beneficiary the policy names, and everything the insurer pays is owed back to it by the policyholder. Three parties and fixed roles, which is why the beneficiary never deals with a bank and the company never ties up a deposit.
For the beneficiary it does the same job as an aval bancario: a contracting authority, a tax office or a counterparty holding a certificado de seguro de caución holds an undertaking to pay from a supervised institution. For the company that buys it the two are not the same at all. An aval is a bank exposure and consumes the limit the same bank would otherwise lend against. A caución is priced as a premium and sits outside the banking relationship, so the facility that funds plant, materials and payroll is intact when the work has to start.
Spanish law admits it wherever public security is called for. Ley 9/2017 lists the seguro de caución beside cash, securities and the aval as a form in which the garantía provisional and the garantía definitiva may be lodged, on one condition: the insurer must be authorised in the ramo. The Ley General Tributaria admits a certificado de seguro de caución as security for an aplazamiento or fraccionamiento of tax debt. Our entry on the DGSFP register for ramo 15, caución, is what meets that condition, and it is the first thing a beneficiary checks.
Literature
Product literature is issued to appointed intermediaries. Ask your underwriter, or request it through the enquiry form.
- Specimen certificado de seguro de cauciónOn request
- Surety proposal formOn request
- Financial information checklistOn request
How it works
What happens, in order
From the first enquiry to the point the cover, the contract or the facility is in place.
The requirement sets the form
The pliego, the tax resolution or the grid-access procedure states the amount, the beneficiary, the term and the model the certificate must follow. Where the beneficiary prescribes a model — the Caja General de Depósitos, a regional treasury, a tax office — we issue on that form, in Spanish.
We underwrite the company, not the contract
The last audited accounts and the current management figures, the contract or resolution the security is for, and the group structure, so the counter-indemnity comes from the entity that holds the assets. A company expecting several guarantees in a year asks for a facility rather than a bond.
The certificate is issued and lodged
On our own paper, from the entity that carries the risk, under our DGSFP entry. The company signs a counter-indemnity, which is what gives the right of recovery in article 68 its effect. The certificate is lodged where the administration requires it.
It is released, and the facility is freed
A garantía definitiva runs to the end of the plazo de garantía and is released against the acta de recepción and the authority’s cancelación; an advance payment guarantee reduces as the advance is recovered; a tax certificate lapses when the last instalment is paid. Releases are administered in Spain, in Spanish, by our associated agency.
Suitability
Where the Seguro de Caución fits
The cases it answers, the cases it does not, and what an underwriter needs before quoting.
It is the right answer when
- A Spanish public contract requires a garantía provisional or definitiva and the pliego admits a seguro de caución.
- A business is negotiating an aplazamiento or fraccionamiento of tax debt and has to secure it without the bank.
- A renewables developer has to post security for grid access and connection, permits or decommissioning.
- A contractor or developer expects several guarantees in a year and wants a facility that turns each one into a phone call.
Look at something else when
- The beneficiary’s terms admit only cash or a bank aval and will not be varied.
- The obligation is a payment the company already cannot meet: a caución secures performance and payment, it does not fund them.
- There is no entity in the group able to sign a counter-indemnity against the amount guaranteed.
What we need to quote
- 1.The pliego, resolution or procedure that sets the security, and the model the beneficiary prescribes.
- 2.The last audited accounts and the current management figures.
- 3.The group structure, and who will sign the counter-indemnity.
Questions
What brokers ask us about this product
Is a seguro de caución accepted by Spanish contracting authorities?
Yes, wherever the pliego admits it, which is the ordinary position under Ley 9/2017. The certificate is issued in the prescribed form and lodged with the Caja General de Depósitos or the regional treasury. The condition is that the insurer is authorised in ramo 15, which a beneficiary checks on the DGSFP register under our clave.
How does it differ from an aval bancario?
For the beneficiary, not at all where a caución is admitted. For the company, the aval is a bank exposure that consumes its credit facility, often with cash pledged behind it; the caución is a premium and leaves the facility intact.
Who administers the guarantee in Spain?
Our associated managing general agent for the Spanish market receives the submission, issues under the mandate and administers releases, extensions and renewals in Spanish. Underwriting, pricing, the paper and the capital stay with us in Dublin. A broker starts with the broker desk, and we make the introduction.
Spain
The market page, the register entry and the explainer
This page describes the instrument. The Spain page carries our DGSFP entry as the register prints it, the three markets we write for and how business reaches us; the insight explains the law behind a caución in full.
A beneficiary checking the insurer that signed a certificate looks in two places: the DGSFP’s administrative register, under clave L1617, and the Banco de España’s list of insurance corporations. Both are reproduced on the Spain page, with the capital that stands behind every certificate published in the solvency section of this site.
Request information
Ask us about the Seguro de Caución
The form reaches an underwriter in Dublin. If you are an intermediary, say so and we will route it to the broker desk.