As if the coronavirus pandemic isn’t enough to worry about, the kidnap and ransom (K&R) risk has been evolving over recent years, and could potentially be heightened amid the political and economic uncertainty brought on by the global health crisis.
“Kidnap & Ransom/Extortion is a growing criminal enterprise, and the economic hardships being faced due to this unprecedented pandemic may potentially lead to its escalation,” said Lalita Mohabir, product specialist - personal accident/special risk, Burns & Wilcox Canada. Speaking more broadly about developments concerning K&R events, she added: “Recent high-profile cases have particularly highlighted the growing threat of lone-wolf attacks on a diverse group of businesses, including educational institutions, religious organizations, and the entertainment and hospitality sectors.”
Kidnapping incidents can arise from political strife, gang warfare, carjacking, intimidation, or financial and business disputes. To address K&R exposures, Burns & Wilcox offers insurance coverage that will generally cover costs associated with, but not limited to, kidnapping, extortion, wrongful detention, hijacking, as well as other critical related expenses, such as ransom fees, legal fees, crisis communication, disappearance and investigation expenses, threat response expenses, and travel security evacuation.
The Burns & Wilcox K&R insurance policy also includes the assistance of a highly skilled professional crisis advisory team, according to Mohabir, as well as a preventative service allowance that encourages the insured to utilize a percentage of the annual premium charged for preventative security services and crisis management planning with this team.
Additionally, “To help businesses protect themselves and their employees, guests, and visitors should the unthinkable happen, Burns & Wilcox offers the Workplace Violence Expense Endorsement, which can be added to the insurance policy and includes not only financial and reputational protection, but the assistance of a crisis management team to guide the policyholder every step of the way should an incident occur,” noted the Burns & Wilcox expert.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced many unknowns, the Burns & Wilcox team has continued having conversations with their broker community about the value of K&R coverage. For brokers working with clients who may need K&R coverage, Mohabir underscored that this insurance is immensely valuable in offering assistance to insureds to mitigate the risk of a potentially financially devastating K&R event, all year round.
“This insurance protection is customized for each potential policyholder and, in most cases, offers 24-hour, 365-days protection,” said Mohabir. “Brokers should also be advising their clients that this insurance protection is an added value to their portfolio of benefits since they can treat it as more of an employee benefit, much like a life insurance policy.”
And while ‘the new normal’ is the catchphrase of the day, Mohabir cautions brokers, “There is no ‘new normal’ in today’s world as events around us are consistently and continually changing and evolving.” Ensuring that clients have the right coverage to navigate this world safely is critical.
