PRODUCT: Kidnap and Ransom (K&R)

COMPANY: Burns & Wilcox

BEST RATING: Burns and Wilcox only represents carriers with an A- rating and higher.

AVAILABILITY: Open for retail agents and brokers appointed with a Burns & Wilcox office.

FOCUS: As a wholesaler broker with deep industry expertise and extensive market access, Burns & Wilcox provides coverage solutions within the K&R insurance segment. Since many businesses tend to believe that K&R insurance is only necessary when employees are traveling abroad, it tends to be a last-minute purchase—and “that’s not how a K&R policy works,” says Dario Nalli, broker and management liability expert for Burns & Wilcox. While the international exposure certainly exists—“a lot of U.S. companies are now traveling abroad to China or Mexico or the Middle East to provide their services,” Nalli notes—K&R coverage is also important for protecting clients against threats that arise closer to home. “Companies should realize K&R isn’t just a travelling-abroad type of coverage,” Nalli says. “It also helps for domestic threats.”

For example, consider your commercial client that has an employee who is having a domestic dispute with their spouse and secures a restraining order. “If the company has a K&R policy and the individual is employed by this company feels a threat, a K&R policy could respond to have personnel in normal clothing on the premises of their business to mitigate any type of breach by this individual,” Nalli explains. Another example of a K&R policy responding domestically: Someone is giving birth to a child and the other party isn’t allowed to see the child, but attempts a kidnap. “A K&R policy could respond domestically for a hospital in that manner,” Nalli says.

The international exposure is a little more self-explanatory, Nalli says. “Whether it’s drug cartels or terrorists in a traditional kidnap and ransom type of situation, K&R insurance is something that can be quite beneficial to any company,” he explains. Burns & Wilcox has also provided coverage for high net-worth individuals traveling abroad. “Maybe they’re doing charity work in South America or making appearances in South Africa,” Nalli says. “We could specifically write coverage for an individual—it doesn’t have to be a corporation.”

But the policy term would have to be for a full year, not just the time of travel. “Navigating those waters and providing that expertise is what we provide here at Burns—the speed and knowledge of the market, and the ability to provide those policies for our agent partners as soon as possible,” Nalli explains.

UNDERWRITING: Limits are flexible to meet all needs. Coverage includes reimbursement for money paid for extortion or ransom; money for rewards provided for information leading to arrest or conviction of perpetrators; medical, cosmetic, psychiatric or dental expenses following release of insured; expenses related to rest and rehabilitation; accidental death or dismemberment; and financial loss pertaining to kidnapped employee finances.

Nalli says employee count, travel destination and individual or company net worth are big determining factors in rating a policy, as well as threat mitigation tactics that could “provide an underwriter with a better view of how careful you’re being,” he explains.

MINIMUM PREMIUM: $1,500.

TARGET: Public, private and non-profit companies; directors and officers; volunteers and students; employees and their relatives; guests on company property or at an employee’s home; and people retained to deliver ransom.

COVERAGE TERRITORY: Worldwide.

CONTACT: Dario Nalli, management liability broker, Burns & Wilcox Professional Liability Center of Excellence; 220 Kaufman Financial Center, 30833 Northwestern Highway, Farmington Hills, MI 48334; 248-539-6057.