Kansas Bankers Surety Company (KBS) is an

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

company based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...

, the investment vehicle of

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net ...

. It specializes in the writing of surety bonds for the officers of small, state chartered banks in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. It formerly also wrote deposit insurance at such banks for coverage in excess of the per-depositor limits of the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cr ...

, but this line of business was discontinued in 2008. Kansas Bankers Surety was acquired by Wesco Financial Corporation in 1996.

had owned 80% of Wesco since the 1970s, and in 2010 it announced its intention to acquire the remainder and become 100% owner of Wesco. Kansas Bankers Surety became part of the Berkshire Hathaway Companies on December 31, 2013. As part of a 2015 rebranding, the company began referring to itself as simply KBS. In 2016, KBS announced that it would be exiting the bank insurance market and discontinuing all insurance products.

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* Berkshire Hathaway Insurance companies of the United States American companies established in 1909 Financial services companies established in 1909 Financial services companies of the United States 1909 establishments in Kansas 1996 mergers and acquisitions {{Insurance-company-stub