BI insurance fit for post Covid-19 pandemic purpose

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Speaking during the latest Insurance Post Podcast, Grant said this autumn we will see the Stonegate and various eateries appeals looking at aggregation, the increased cost of working and furlough.

Grant said: “I think furlough is the really big one here. It is the one with big financial implications, but, equally, it is a Marsh resilience wording. Will that translate across to policyholders on other wordings? We will have to see.”

On the impact that these ongoing cases have had on the industry’s reputation, Matthew Connell, director of policy and public affairs at the Chartered Insurance Institute, said customer satisfaction for business interruption since the Covid-19 lockdowns have been a few percentage points lower than for other types of insurance.

However, Connell said the Financial Conduct Authority’s test case had drawn something of a line under things in terms of consumer perceptions.

The FCA argued for policyholders that the 'disease' and 'prevention of access' clauses in the representative sample of 21 policy types provide cover in the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the trigger for cover caused policyholders’ losses.

In January 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that cover may be available for partial, as well as full, closure, and for mandatory closure orders that were not legally binding.

The judgment brought to an end legal arguments under 14 types of policy issued by six insurers, and a substantial number of similar policies in the wider market that the FCA claimed would lead to claims being successful.

Connell said: “What is pre-occupying SMEs now is speed of claims and delivering on claims. That goes back to issues that payments aren’t being made because litigation is going on for so long.”

The duo also discuss whether a rebrand is required, how insurers have changed this type of cover, and the ways brokers have adapted the nature of conversations they have with policyholders to make sure BI insurance is fit for purpose.

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