Travel insurance comes in all forms – but have your clients considered kidnap and ransom coverage? With the growing states of lawlessness in several vacation hot spots, such insurance is no longer necessary for just executives and jet-setters.
“Sadly, it is a growth area of insurance,” says Roberta Zurrer, a commercial lines broker with McDougall Insurance & Financial in Belleville, Ontario. “With more employees travelling abroad, kidnappings are becoming more prevalent.”
According to the website Havocscope, the kidnapping statistics show average ransom demands in 2012 of $2 million, with a total of $1.5 billion extorted. In Mexico, a favourite vacation destination for many Canadians, the average kidnapper earnings comes to $50 million per year.
Havocscope is a website that collects and analyzes data from around the world on black market activities, and has supplied information to the World Economic Forum for the 2011 Global Risks Report.
Mining operations in central and South America, as well as companies with interests in Africa, Asia or the Middle East, are all vulnerable to kidnapping and extortion, with particular hot spots including Mexico, Nigeria Venezuela and Pakistan.
“We are seeing more cases of kidnapping and ransom demands,” Zurrer told InsuranceBusiness.ca. “Just look at the news. We offer coverage in the event of kidnapping or ransom for our commercial clients, which can be part of the Business Continuity Planning package.” (continued.)
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Corporations are moving into some lawless parts of the world, and as such executives and their families can become victims of just such criminal activity. A full 61 per cent of all kidnappings globally are of employees and their dependents.
“Dealing with a kidnapping or hijacking, negotiating with criminals or rescuing hostages can be incredibly expensive and takes a lot of experience and very particular skills,” says David Marsh, an account executive with Axis Insurance Managers Inc. “Kidnap, Ransom and Extortion Insurance means that when trouble strikes, you have the very best people on your side.”
The kidnap policy from Axis Insurance includes a specialist service provider and experts in hostage recovery, like Control Risks International.
“We’ll give you their emergency number at the start of the policy. That way, in the event of a kidnapping or hijack taking place, you can call the specialists direct, with just your policy number, to take immediate control of the situation,” says Marsh. “All the fees and expenses incurred by the specialist are unlimited following an insured event and they work completely independently of Axis Insurance Inc. Thankfully 93 per cent of all kidnaps are ended successfully.”
