Business News: Chubb, AIG, Vericlaim

Chubb has expanded its business owner’s policy, Chubb BOP, to the technology industry by crafting specialized insurance features and benefits to meet the unique risks faced by small businesses in the technology segment.

The policy includes more than 80 property and liability features and benefits beyond industry standard policies. It also provides a unique automatic blanket limit of insurance that ties together 13 essential property coverages, allowing business owners to use their insurance dollars where they need it the most following a loss. It also includes the following for small technology companies:

• Automatic blanket limit that includes electronic data and research, as well as development property.
• Business personal property that includes computer hardware.
• Tailored property insurance for mobile communications, electronic data recovery costs (computer virus), installation, and personal property off-premises, including transit and utility services direct damage.
• Crime insurance for computer fraud and funds transfer, identity theft expense, money and securities, as well as employee dishonesty.
• Business income insurance that includes actual loss sustained, business income from dependent property worldwide, alternative power generation, business income extension for websites, and utility services.
• Valuation that includes green standards, removal of insurance to value provision, replacement cost, and selling price on finished stock.

The policy includes broad protection for property and liability exposures, as well as umbrella, workers compensation, commercial auto, overseas travel, technology errors and omissions, and cyber liability insurance. It is offered to the following technology classes:

• Computer programing and software
• Computer-related services
• Technology manufacturers and wholesalers
• Telecommunication services
• Broadcasters
• Technology research and development start-ups

American International Group, Inc. announced that it has raised its property terrorism insurance limits globally to $1 billion. The larger capacity is available to clients on a stand-alone basis or as expanded limits within AIG’s Large Limits property insurance offering, which provides clients with all-risk coverage limits up to $2.5 billion per occurrence.

AIG’s prior limits for property terrorism insurance was $250 million, including in high concentration risk areas in major urban central business districts.

In many larger cities, typically those classified as Tier 1 terrorism risks, there is limited capacity for clients seeking terrorism coverage. At the same time, AIG has found that more clients, particularly those operating as multinationals, are looking to partner with insurers that have the capacity and service capabilities to help protect them against the broad spectrum of risks they face worldwide, including terrorism.

In expanding its appetite for terrorism risk, AIG will rely on its data analytics and risk engineering capabilities, including new and proprietary terrorism risk engineering services, as well as enhanced risk selection tools.

In 2015, AIG made a strategic investment with Clemson University to establish a risk engineering and systems analytics center to deepen the skills sets and capabilities of its more than 600 engineers, while enhancing the company’s overall efforts to transform data analytics into actionable insight for the company and its clients.

Vericlaim, a subsidiary of Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., and global provider of loss adjusting and claims management services, acquired the assets of Mid-Texas Claim Service, Inc., an independent provider of all-lines insurance adjusting and appraisal services in central Texas.

Based in Temple with servicing offices in Waco and Bryan-College Station, the company has delivered adjusting and appraisal services to insurance carriers, property owners, defense attorneys and self-insured companies since 1954. As part of the transaction, the owners of Mid-Texas Claim Service, industry veterans Larry Vardeman and Byron Gilchrest, and their team of experienced adjusters and appraisers have joined Vericlaim.