Cyber Risk Insurance

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A core part of modern business organization is the technology operations a Company uses to run their business as seamlessly as possible. It is needed for electronic communication, daily management, storage of information data and software programs that are vital to your daily business operation. Unfortunately, the work you do on the internet is out there for the taking.

Cyber Risk Coverage

This type of coverage is not one of many that would be included in your business insurance policy. It is a liability policy/rider that needs to be added to your policy. It needs to adequately cover the cyber risks that may occur with your own technology and another business system owned by one of your clients.

There are a couple of different types of insurance for different types of risks.

First, your business information and technology is compromised; and secondly, any third party liability that you may be held accountable. A few of the important liability exposures:

• Database and Network Security Breeches – such as a virus or malware, that gets into your main information system and is passed on to your customers or business associates.
• Technology Failures – If you have any issues that prevent your employee from working all day, this coverage would cover the expense for the time down.
• Business Interruptions – If you can’t use your system, it is interrupting the daily work flow that needs to be done.
• Online Fraud – It happens everyday and the only course of action is to be as preventable as you can.
• Online Reputation Management – Advise clients that your website is verified, safe to use and protected by only the best security systems.
• Damage and Defense Costs – If you are sued by one of your customers, this coverage will respond to the damage and any legal costs.
• Cyber-risk insurance is designed to protect your business from all of the exposure risks out there. It can be a complex situation and you should sit down with your agent and confirm the type of insurance you have, and if it is the insurance you require.                            

Insurance Solutions by Industry

These information is extremely important to protect your business. Every business has a different need as far as insurance is concerned. A small breakdown of the types of Insurance that may already be set up together as a Small Business package.

• Automotive – including auto parts, gas stations, bars, glass and transmission shops, repair garages, service stations
• Office packages for accounting, beauty salons, medical offices
• Contractors – plumbing mechanical contractors, janitorial services, or electrical
• Realty such as commercial buildings, property owners of residential apartments which have been manufactured by others
  

It’s never too late to speak to a licensed broker to get all the information you need to set up your business. Knowing you are completely protected for business insurance gives you a peace of mind to run a successful organization.

In the business section of insurancemarket.ae, we can draft an appropriate policy that protects your online business.

Workmen’s Compensation Insurance in Dubai and across the UAE

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Every business must purchase Worker’s Compensation Insurance or else they risk being exposed to compensation that must be paid as per the UAE labour law if an accidental death or permanent injury occurs due to work related causes. This Insurance confirms that their employer commits their obligations to workers who are injured or become ill to a workplace hazard. It does not matter what the size of your business is, having to take care of your employees on your own, is a very challenging financial situation.

Workers who have been injured or become ill on the job, would probably take legal action against their employers, resulting in a system that would simultaneously made it difficult for workers to obtain compensation for such injuries. This could be potentially devastating to the employer who would be responsible for financial penalties within the regulated law.

Worker’s Compensation laws provide a fairly comprehensive benefits plan to workers who suffer workplace injury or illness. Benefits include lost wages, rehabilitation, medical expenses, and death benefits. If the employer fails to carry workers’ compensation insurance to meet the minimum standard laid out by the insurance regulators, they would have to pay all the costs themselves as well as pay penalties levied by their regulator.  

Worker’s Compensation is a worldwide insurance program that is regulated and governed by each individual country.

The main benefits of this coverage:

• Occupational Death

Should a worker die as a result of a work-related injury, the member of his family shall be entitled to cash amount of his basic wage up to 24 months.

• Loss of Wages

If a worker is unable to work due to injuries, there is coverage for a cash allowance equal to his normal salary for up to six months.

• Permanent Disability

When a worker is permanently disabled, the cash amount is the same as the death benefit. It is given for period of 24 months.

• Medical Expenses

When you are unable to work due to a work related accident, the employer shall pay for the cost of treatment in a government or private approved medical center. This includes all medical services such as rehabilitation equipment and medicines.

There are additional benefits available that are included in the categories above. If have questions about Workman’s Compensation, check online for the labour laws in your area.

Worker’s compensation does more than just hand out funds to workers that have been injured or have died at the workplace. They continually check complaints of the safety work sites; they will drop in unannounced to different work sites, and offer seminars on safety. Each employer will need to be aware of all the safety regulations and make sure their Company is run abiding by the rules.  There strict laws and huge penalties it your business is not working according to Labour laws. 

To enquire for workmen’s’ compensation insurance, you can meet Alfred or visit the business insurance section of InsuranceMarket.

Introduction to liability insurance in the UAE

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Insuring assets like motor, property and home are common and known to even the general public but apart from insuring assets, business and individuals can also insure liabilities and such insurance can save you from big troubles at times.

Businesses owe a duty of care to customers, employees, their physical neighbors and at times suppliers. What is duty of care? It is an obligation by law where one entity is liable to provide proper care to another entity such as not to cause any sort of harm/damage to another. This duty of care can be insured and this type of insurance refers to what is commonly known to us as liability insurance.

Duty of care may be breached by negligence or malpractice where the individual or business can be sued by third parties who can claim actual costs or pays. While damage due to negligence or malpractice is usually covered under liability insurance, intentional damage or damage due to breaching of contract (contractual liability) is often not covered.

The two types of losses that can be made under liability damage are pure financial losses and physical losses. Pure financial loss is one which is not tangible; the damage cannot be seen by the human eye but includes professional liability where a business or individual like an employee causes harm to a third party like a client. For example, they make give wrong professional advice and they can be sued for being non professional which is where liability insurance comes into play.

Other examples of pure financial liabilities include directors and officers liability where the COOs, CEOs or CFOs of a company are liable to the shareholders for any strategic decisions they make. Imagine you are a shareholder and the directors make decisions which damage your company’s reputation. If the decisions go against the law, the directors can be sued. In such cases, they can be held liable to pay for the loss they made. However, if insured by the directors and officers’ liability insurance, the directors and officers can protect themselves. Intentional acts which do not abide by the law are exempted from coverage. The claims can be made by shareholders if the directors and officers act against their interests, by customers if the product does not meet satisfactory standards (common in US in food beverage industry), by competing firms for trade malpractice and by some other entities.

Pure financial liability also includes errors and omissions made by a business and the claim is usually made by the clients of the business on grounds of negligent acts by businesses or individuals. Such individuals or businesses can be protected from paying the entire loss by insuring themselves with the Errors and Omissions insurance. For example, if an employee, even a clerk, makes a mistake with figures and records 10,000 instead of 100,000 in a transaction then this additional zero can lead to loss for another party who can claim the loss he may suffer. So E&O insurance can protect companies from damage by providing compensation on behalf of the company.

In a situation where the employer suffers a financial loss due to dishonesty on the employee’s part, the fidelity guarantee insurance can be used to cover the loss. Frauds or making personal use of the company money are typical cases of wrongful acts by employees and they are usually covered as per the insurance contract. Likewise, if an employee suffers damage due to an employer not providing minimum wage or mandatory health benefits, then workers’ compensation can support the employees. However, fraudulent cases like faking an injury or off the job injuries are excluded.

Another major category, as mentioned previously, which falls under liability insurance is physical liability (casualty). This is rather easier to understand and witness since it includes insurance of damages that can be seen by the human eye. Physical liability insurance covers body injury to customers, employees or third parties as well as damage caused to the environment through pollution or even death of an individual. Liability insurance can cover such losses when they are accidental rather than intentional.

Liability related claims take a longer time since they are often referred to court and the defense costs (costs of defending a case) are usually high. If the cases go to trial, they can even last for many years. Therefore, it is advisable for the businesses opting for liability insurance to find an insurance policy which covers defense costs.

Come to http://insurancemarket.ae/businessmain.html to enquire for a simple ‘off the shelf’ public liability insurance (which is mandatory in most freezones) or a tailor-made liability policy that will cover all your ‘duty of care’ risks as a business.

Introduction To Property Insurance in the UAE

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Property insurance is as important as any other form of insurance like motor insurance even though it is not compulsory.  The latter might seem more vulnerable to theft or damage in accidents, but what many fail to understand is that property is worth much more and can be affected by many factors, some of which might be out of human control.

What if there is an earthquake? What if your property gets damaged due to another nearby property? What if there is a fire which ends up destroying most of the essential equipment and stocks? Imagine the big losses that you could face. Even spending fortunes may not be able to recover the entire loss. Incidences like there make you realize how important property insurance can be.

The main categories of items that fall under property insurance include machinery, warehouse/buildings, fixtures, fittings and furniture, electronic equipment, rent and profit.

Stock or warehouse catches fire? Machinery breaks down? You would not want these problems to aggravate into major obstacles in your production process, would you? Even a small delay in delivery could lead to empty shelves at outlets for your goods and big losses for your business. So property insurance is the best way to protect you from a bleak situation.

There are different levels of insurance and you can choose the one which suits you requirements and you feel is the best for you. Starting with the basic most, they different levels are:

• Fire
• Fire plus lightning
• Fire , allied perils and burglary
• Property All risks (Includes the above as well as covers accidental risks)

There are different types of coverage to insure your property. One is the replacement cost coverage which is often useful as it follows the principle of indemnity, where the client receives the amount at which the property originally cost and does not take into account appreciation or depreciation. The purpose is to return you to your original position prior to the time of loss. Other is the actual cost coverage which takes into account the depreciation charges such that the value of the property item into consideration is adjusted according to its age and usage.

As a client, it is often useful to know about the named peril policy and the open peril policy. Named perils, as the term suggests, includes coverage on only those losses which are explicitly mentioned in the policy itself. Open peril policy, on the other hand, provides protection against events not explicit in the policy and commonly includes losses from natural hazards.

Rent and profit:

If you are a landlord, you may suffer if an unforeseen hazard like a firm may deem a property unfit for occupation. Once insured, the loss of rent can be paid out to the landlord.

Loss of profit insurance or consequential insurance gives coverage to clients in the sense that if a business suffers a loss due to property damage, then the insurance company is liable to support the respective business by paying it the sum insured which, in this case, is the insured gross profit. The insurance company will continue to support the business till the agreed term (maximum indemnity period). As a business, you would surely want to benefit from such a policy since it protects your business at crucial times.

Are you a UAE-based business? If so you would certainly have some assets to insure – your office contents, fixtures, fittings, computers and other equipment, stock, rent, machinery and more. Your account manager from insurancemarket.ae can tailor the right solution for you. If you’re an SME you can probably have a comprehensive package that not only covers property but also other risks like premises liability, workmen’s compensation, employee dishonesty etc. And usually property insurance isn’t as expensive as one may think it’d be – get a quote now and see for yourself.