Everyone aims to deliver the best possible products and services to their customers, however if things go wrong, it pays to have cover.
Professional Indemnity insurance1 is designed to protect businesses in the unlikely event that a client alleges negligence, inaccurate advice, misleading statements or breach of duty. The cover prevents companies from bearing the full cost of defending or settling claims made by clients.
For example, a marketing agency could accidently leak information about a client’s under-wraps product, which could result in a claim for breach of confidentiality. Or, an accountant could enter the wrong figures on a tax return leading to an HMRC investigation, leading to a claim for the client’s financial and reputational loss.
How CNA Hardy’s Specialist Solution Responds:
As a specialist Professional Indemnity insurer our coverage spans a broad range, from small to mid-sized and larger domestic companies and from sole practitioners to major nationals with worldwide exposures. Our ranges of solutions are industry-specific to ensure they are tailored to match the various risks faced in any given profession:
- Media and Miscellaneous business
- Design and Build contractors
- Regulated Professions
Traditional and emerging threats
CNA Hardy’s own Risk & Confidence Survey2 research reveals that business leaders in the Professional Services sector are concerned with political uncertainties of the Brexit trade deal. The UK is the centre of European professional services, and many firms operate in Europe under the current passporting rules.
Reputation is also a major concern for 2020, which is not surprising given the discussion over the role played by external auditors, reportedly for example at Carillion and Thomas Cook, and questions about the structure of the sector itself, with the Financial Reporting Council calling for the break-up of the Big Four firms and the separation of their audit and consulting businesses3.
As a consequence, professional indemnity insurance rates are on the rise.
At CNA Hardy, we have a specialist team of underwriters across the UK and Continental Europe; over 20 industry specific wordings solutions and Lloyd’s capability to write broker wordings. Find out more here.
Tina Booth, AVP Professional Indemnity
1 Also known as Professional Liability Insurance (PLI) or Errors & Omissions (E&O) in the US. Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_liability_insurance
2 CNA Hardy Risk and Confidence research was undertaken between February and March ’19, via an online survey of 1,500 business leaders of multinational firms with operations in Europe. Qualitative research was undertaken in May ‘19. In the UK 450 business leaders from 9 different business sectors, with a turnover ranging from £5m to £1bn+ were surveyed.
3 FT.com - https://www.ft.com/content/84d1b2c0-0077-11ea-b7bc-f3fa4e77dd47