Markel International, the London-based specialist insurance subsidiary of Markel Corp., has launched a policy offering comprehensive protection for businesses in the financial technology (fintech) sector, which includes trading platforms, forex platforms and peer-to-peer crowdfunding sites.
In financial services businesses, where technology, personal data and money often come together, clients’ key risks are often better protected with a single policy that covers professional liability, directors and officers liability, theft and cyber liability, Markel said in a statement.
The policy offers limits of up to £10 million ($14.4 million) for each of the policy’s coverage options. As a London market product, it is available for global fintech risks outside the United States.
Markel also offers a 24/7 crisis management response service and regulatory investigation costs coverage which provide clients with additional levels of protection.
Markel’s fintech policy is built around a core professional liability cover, offering broad civil liability protection against claims and related costs from clients or third parties, including from bad advice, poor servicing or programming errors. Coverage also extends to the costs involved when sensitive documents or data is lost, the company said.
Directors and officers liability cover protects against claims of mis-management, which could be brought by shareholders, employees, creditors or regulators.
In addition, the theft option covers the insured against the stealing of money or other financial instruments, through both electronic and non-electronic means, including through extortion. It will also cover the cost of rectifying computer systems following a theft, the company explained.
Cyber liability and loss cover provides protection if the insured suffers a network security incident, such as a hack, denial of service attack, or a computer virus. Business interruption losses arising from such an incident are also covered under the policy. This section includes cover for the cost of rectifying computer systems following a network security incident.
The crisis management response service will provide 24/7 access to a team of experts to help manage, resolve and recover from a covered cyber loss, theft loss and the loss of documents or data. The team has expertise in data breach management, technical forensic investigation, legal advice, notification assistance, web and credit monitoring and public relations.