Jardine Lloyd Thompson Secures Lloyd’s of London Protection for Financial, Healthcare Sectors

JLT Risk Solutions Ltd. and Jardine Lloyd Thompson LLC, part of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, reported insurance capacity has been secured within the Lloyd’s of London market to provide new insurance protection for two of the most heavily regulated U.S. business sectors – financial and healthcare industries, and their associated vendors and business associates. These two sectors are reportedly facing increasing litigation and actions as a result of new and existing privacy and security regulations.

“Enterprise Privacy Protection”, the name of the new insurance introduced by JLT, reportedly has an exceptional range of liability coverages for privacy and security risks not generally available in the insurance marketplace. Besides the defense and payment of claims of civil suits of either third parties or employees, the policy includes legal defense of regulatory actions arising out of U.S. data protection laws, including HIPAA, G-L-B, and relevant state laws.

A variety of regulations have been established to increase protection and use of financial and healthcare information of individuals. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (G-L-B) reportedly imposes major privacy and security requirements on financial services companies engaged in financial transactions and communications. State Attorneys General and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been active in enforcing G-L-B and consumer protection laws in this area. Identity theft reportedly continues to be the number one consumer complaint in the United States (2004 FTC Report).

With the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rules and the forthcoming 21 April 2005 compliance date for the HIPAA Security Rules, most entities, health plans, healthcare clearing houses, and healthcare providers are subject to detailed regulations concerning the rights of patients to control and protect their healthcare information. These regulations extend to companies with self-insured medical plans for their employees.

Data protection regulations impact a wide variety of entities that perform functions for and have contracts with financial services and HIPAA “covered entities”. These entities vary from call centers and technology firms to third party administrators and claims processors.

Enterprise Privacy Protection offers:

* A selection of insuring agreements providing liability protection for regulated financial and healthcare information under HIPAA, G-L-B, as well as other data protection laws at a state level.

* Regulatory defense of alleged privacy or security violations under defined privacy regulations.

* An insuring agreement for the situation where the employees are the plaintiffs in a civil privacy or security claim.

* Network security liability to address a wide range of computer attacks.

* Currently up to $15 ML in limits through Lloyd’s and U.S. excess markets with a variety of retention options available.

*Accessible to U.S. brokers through JLT Risk Solutions Ltd.

Emily Freeman, senior vice president of JLT LLC, said, “Privacy and security is a boardroom issue. Reputation and business risks are extensive, particularly for entities subject to G-L-B, HIPAA, and the accountability and IT control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Unlike other products, Enterprise Privacy Protection focuses on the high regulatory compliance industries and their vendors. Coverage overlays on the privacy/security regulations themselves, not just on the electronic component and addresses regulatory investigations.”

JLT Risk Solutions will be working with NetDiligence, an experienced privacy and security vendor to provide underwriting support as needed

“We are excited to support Enterprise Privacy Protection. Risks, such as a data security breach or privacy policy violation, are a growing concern for many Risk Managers and CFO’s. We hope to support this product by providing an on-line, enterprise-focused questionnaire or by conducting a telephone interview to reaffirm a security/privacy posture and further demonstrate that a proper level of management controls exist,” said Mark Greisiger, president, NetDiligence.com.

For more information, contact Freeman at Emily_Freeman@jltgroup.com .