IMA’s Executive Risk Solutions (ERS) is a dedicated team focused on protecting your key executives, directors and employees.
Our centralized team brings together our collective brain power, carrier relationships and a dedication to excellence to ensure you have the best resource to solve the problems facing your organization now and in the future.
The coverage advantage
To ensure you have the broadest coverage for your risk, we have negotiated industry-leading enhancements from the top D&O and executive risk insurance carriers.
Knowledge is power
Make an informed decision to select the right coverage, structure and limit with support from our specialists. We provide litigation and claim trends and perform loss modeling and peer benchmarking to help you find the solution that best suits your organization.
Claims advocacy
Know that you are not alone when it comes to navigating the complicated web of claims. Our dedicated claims staff can guide you with reporting of claims, claim communications and settlement facilitation.
Are the assets of your key executives and directors protected? Our Executive Risk Solutions team can help you with consulting, marketing and placement of tailored executive risk insurance, including the following:
Team Depth
The Executive Risk Solutions (ERS) team represents nearly 200 years of experience. With this breadth of industry knowledge, you get expert understanding of executive risk and preferred coverage treatments. ERS specializes in marketing and placing D&O, E&O, EPL, Fiduciary, Crime, Kidnap & Ransom and Cyber coverage.
Our collective proficiency extends well throughout the Technology, Energy, Construction, Manufacturing, Real Estate, Hospitality, Financial, Healthcare and Nonprofit industries. Regardless of size, class of business or complexity of operations, our team possesses the capacity to serve your organization’s unique needs.
Business Insurance Creativity
Our sole aim is to help you navigate the whitewater of today’s business environment. At IMA, you have access to seasoned brokers who embrace collaboration and creative problem solving steeped in analysis and strong communication.
Market Prowess
IMA’s close professional ties with numerous reputable carriers give you leverage within the marketplace to drive competitive coverage no matter how challenging the risk. These carrier partnerships have been forged though years of collaborative efforts. The result is a reliable stable of carriers that value coverage and client support in a manner that aligns with IMA’s mission to protect assets and make a difference.
Claims Advocacy
A policy is only as good as its ability to appropriately respond to claims. Our tenacious advocacy improves your chances of getting the claim covered fairly. Our Executive Risk Solutions team works hand in hand with your dedicated IMA Claims Advocate. This collaboration, along with assertiveness, intricate policy dissection and our ability to coerce friendly treatment by insurance carriers, has led to favorable claims outcomes and excellent client retention rates.
Thought Process
Your organization is matched with insurance carriers that have the best blend of these important factors:
- Cutting-edge, market-leading terms and conditions
- Strong financial ratings so you’re never worried about a carrier’s ability to pay on a claim
- A willingness to pay and favorable claims-paying reputations, as well as a spirit of partnership and open communication
- Executive Liability experience with dedicated underwriting resources, large risk spread and a reputation of consistency
- Historical relationships with IMA so that in good times we can continue to drive favorable renewal results, but in challenging times we can leverage mutually agreeable outcomes when a carrier might otherwise walk away
Tailored Programs
We don’t sell insurance, and we don’t work for insurance companies. Our duty is to you, our client. We know one size doesn’t fit all, and we don’t push needless limits. We ask questions, do our homework and thoughtfully analyze your concerns. We believe in proposing insurance programs that fit your unique risk profile. Risk should be transferred selectively and with a tailored approach. Our goal is to protect your assets through educated purchases and careful consideration.
Actions brought against directors and officers based upon actual or alleged wrongful acts arising from the execution of their day-to-day duties and management functions can result in a D&O claim. D&O liability insurance protects the personal assets of directors and officers from catastrophic financial loss in the event of such a claim. The D&O policy also provides coverage for the organization.
It is common for directors to require that a company purchase D&O liability insurance before they serve on its board. Litigation expenses alone can amount to millions of dollars. D&O coverage can help protect the directors and officers from personal financial loss relating to these expenses.
Defense costs — a significant expense
Defense expenses erode the limit of liability and can significantly impact the available insurance for directors and officers.
Pollution liability is important because it fills critical gaps in CGL and Property policies, satisfies contractual or regulatory requirements and can also be the linchpin in a successful real estate or M&A deal.
Types of pollution insurance products:
- Contractor’s Pollution
- Pollution/Professional Package
- Construction Wraps
- Pollution Legal Liability/Premises Pollution
- Tank Liability
- Products Pollution
- GL/PremisePackage
- Professional Package
- Lender Liability
- Cost Cap
The threat of environmental exposures cuts across a wide spectrum of industries. Environmental exposures come in many shapes and sizes, some more easily identifiable than others.
Clients who purchase environmental risk transfer have recognized that environmental claims can severely affect profits, and in many instances, can be the largest exposure to loss that the company could ever face.
How we help you
- Environmental Risk Analysis
- Coverage Review
- Contractual Analysis
- Marketing and Placement of Pollution Policies
- Claims Support/Advocate
- Regulatory Updates/Guidance
Why this coverage is valuable:
- Pollution legal liability policies provide coverage for pollution conditions that arise from past or present operations at a fixed facility or location — and can include cleanup, third-party bodily injury, third-property property damage, defense expenses, business interruption and more.
- Contractor’s pollution liability policy offer protection for contractors and subcontractors from pollution claims that arise from the performance of covered operations. Coverage can be on a program basis or project-specific and can include first and third-party cleanup costs, third-party bodily injury and property damage (including natural resource damages), defense expenses, mold and more.
Employment Practices Liability
An Employment Practices Liability (EPL) policy covers your organization for allegations brought by employees alleging violations of employment law. It is designed to address an organization’s exposure to most employment-related claims, on a first and third-party basis.
In the event of an employment-related claim or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charge, an EPL policy can protect your company from costly defense expenses as well as adverse judgments or settlements.
Employment risks are real and varied, and claims of wrongdoing are taken seriously in a court of law. The impact of these claims can be harmful to a company’s bottom line, regardless of their legitimacy.
Furthermore, these issues don’t have to reach a court of law to have a financial impact on your company. Administrative actions and complaints, mediations, arbitrations and settlements often prove costly.
Without an EPL policy, your company would have to not only find counsel suited to defend these claims but self-insure the costs.
EPL should be considered a vital part of any insurance program, given the aggressiveness of the EEOC and the increasingly high cost of claim settlements. In 2013, the EEOC reported a record high recovery of $372.1 million in monetary benefits resulting from the 93,727 charges received nationally. According to the 2012-2013 Edition of Jury Award Trends and Statistics, the median award of an employment practice claim in 2011 was $325,000, up from $172,500 in 2010.
Scenarios where EPL insurance can offer protection:
- A large settlement was rendered to a class action group after a company improperly used criminal and credit background checks on 300 potential applicants.
- More than $300,000 spent defending allegations of retaliation against a terminated employee as a result of previously filing a Workers’ Compensation claim
- A large award was made to a highly compensated employee who, after being fired ostensibly for performance issues, won an age and gender discrimination lawsuit.
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), fiduciaries of retirement and other employee benefit plans can be held personally liable for losses to a benefit plan incurred as a result of their alleged errors, omission or breach of their fiduciary duties.
Fiduciary liability insurance protects any employee who has discretionary authority over a plan or who assists in its administration. This list of individuals might include an appointed fiduciary, a plan administrator, a human resources employee or anyone who helps to administer a plan.
ERISA also broadly defines the types of employee benefits plans for which fiduciaries are responsible, including pension plans and even health and welfare plans. Allegations can be brought by plan participants, participants’ legal estates, the Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
What are the common misconceptions with fiduciary liability?
“I have an ERISA bond and am protected.”
False. ERISA mandates the protection of an ERISA bond to guard against theft of plan assets by the trustee. This bond does not cover the personal liability that is imposed on fiduciaries by ERISA.
“I have transferred my risk to Third Party Administrator who handles all of the investments for our employees.”
False. Retaining a qualified TPA is a prudent risk mitigation practice, but it does not absolve you from liability under ERISA. ERISA precludes the transfer of this risk and holds plan fiduciaries responsible for the selection and monitoring of TPA and investment firms.
Scenarios where your employees may be held liable:
- An executive asks his HR department to move his retirement plan funds into specific mutual funds. Instead, the funds were rolled into money market funds that performed poorly.
- Plan participants allege that the fiduciaries of a 401(k) plan had failed to divest the plan of an investment option that was not keeping pace with the performance of the comparable index and resulted in poor returns.
- Employees sue the plan fiduciaries alleging that negligent investment practices needlessly depleted plan assets.
The term “Professional Liability” is typically used to refer to coverage provided to lawyers, architects, engineers, accountants and medical professionals who must adhere to strict codes of conduct regulating their professions.
“Miscellaneous Professional Liability” is typically used to refer to coverage provided to other types of professionals such as contractors, property managers, bankers, mortgage brokers, consultants, franchisors and many others. The term “Errors & Omissions” coverage is often used interchangeably with the terms “Professional Liability” and/or “Miscellaneous Professional Liability.”
Scenarios where professional liability coverage can offer protection:
- A property owner alleges that a Property Manager’s inadequate bookkeeping lead to a shortfall in collected rents and substantial economic loss to the property owner
- A claim is brought against a Third Party Administrator providing various administrative services for employee benefit plans alleging that the TPA failed to make required tax payments and failed to properly invest accumulated deposits.
- A Management Consultant assists a client with the selection of a software solution vendor to replace the client’s outdated IT systems. The systems failed to work properly and the client alleges that the consultant was negligent and breached a duty of care in the discharge of professional services by improperly selecting the vendor.
- A Design/Build Contractor is sued by its client because poor project management, and design flaws escalated the project costs.
Cyber & Privacy Coverage
Advances in information technology over the past two decades have radically transformed the way we conduct business. This transformation has also lead to unintended consequences. Most notably, new risks associated with network and information security.
If not properly managed, these new and emerging risks can lead to catastrophe. Data security events are not only expensive to manage (according to Experian, the average costs for a breached company total $9.4 million over a 24-month period), they also significantly impact brand equity and morale.
Losses can arise from a number of sources
Losses can arise from malicious insiders, negligent insiders, hacktivists, criminal hackers and cloud or third-party compromise. Click here to read more in detail.
Will my Property & Casualty insurance cover cyber issues?
Most likely not. Traditional Property & Casualty insurance was not designed to address cyber perils and now commonly contains cyber exclusions. Standard insurance policies were designed for tangible risks and do not address perils such as hacking and denial of service attacks.
The insurance industry has recognized the need for a distinct insurance solution based on this new risk paradigm and policies can include both tailored coverage but also loss control services. IMA has access to over thirty domestic and international markets providing this specialized coverage, which can be customized specifically to your operations and areas of concern.
What are some of the available coverages?
- Data Breach Expenses: Costs associated with the actual or suspected breach of confidential information. Customary expenses include legal counsel, forensic examination, public relations, notification to impacted parties, call center and credit/identity monitoring.
- Security & Privacy Liability: Defense costs and legal liability due to lawsuits or contractual obligations due to a failure of security or safeguarding confidential information.
- Network Business Interruption: Loss of income due to downtime or degradation resulting from a failure of network security. Coverage extends to internal and external costs (extra expense) to get operations back in order.
- Cyber Extortion: Covers expenses to respond to a threat to harm or release your data as well as cover ransom payments, if necessary.
- Regulatory Expense: Defense costs related to privacy regulatory actions, including coverage for assessed fines and penalties (where insurable).
It’s not a matter of if a cyber breach will happen to your company, it’s a matter of when.
In addition to gap analysis and cyber risk loss modeling, IMA offers a cyber loss control website to clients that includes the latest in best practices and industry news.
At its core, crime coverage guards principally against employee dishonesty, which is most commonly manifested through employee theft and/or embezzlement.
The most common pitfall among employers is the “there’s no way this could happen on my watch” mentality. Often times, this belief persists until six or seven figure losses to the balance sheet or inventory emerge, at which point it is too late to insure the specific loss.
Without dedicated crime coverage, many businesses have suffered severe financial damage and, in a number of cases, gone bankrupt. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that one of every three business failures is the direct result of employee theft.
Additionally, an emerging fraud exposure is loss perpetrated by outside fraudsters who manipulate the electronic transfer of funds and inflict serious financial harm upon employers of all size and scope. A step towards avoiding these – and many other crippling losses to the balance sheet – begins with a well-brokered crime policy.
Today, crime coverage remains affordable and protects against losses beyond those resulting from employee dishonesty and other types of occupational fraud.
Scenarios where crime coverage can offer protection:
- A loss incurrs due to an employee who stole checks from the corporate checkbook, forged signatures and collected large sums of cash.
- A loss incurrs due to the fraudulent authorization of internal transfer requests bearing forged company signatures.
- A company incurs claim-related expenses by retaining an accounting firm and/or forensic consultants in order to determine the existence and amount of a particular crime loss.
Kidnap and Ransom (K&R) coverage primarily provides reimbursement for ransoms paid to kidnappers; however, it also features access to expert crisis management services before, during and after the kidnapping of an employee.
Companies who routinely conduct business overseas can be exposing their employees to malicious activities such as abduction, extortion, wrongful detention or hijackings. Keeping employees out of harm’s way is difficult in an increasingly globalized economy, but K&R coverage can help alleviate the concerns and mitigate the risks that accompany international business travel.
Today, K&R coverage remains very affordable and protects against losses beyond those resulting from a ransom payment. Perhaps the most critical component of any K&R policy is the retained crisis response firm. An emergency situation demands the assistance of experienced professionals to minimize the disruption and hardship surrounding a kidnapping and ransom event.
Scenarios where K&R coverage can offer protection:
- A loss incurred due to a kidnapping or extortion event involving an employee on an international business trip or a family member on vacation
- A loss incurred when a ransom payment fails to meet its intended destination due to damage, disappearance or theft during delivery
- A loss incurred when a hostage is forced to withdraw money from multiple ATMs to appease kidnappers in search of quick, targeted cash grabs