Around the P&C insurance industry: June 3, 2020
News from Ironshore, Zurich North America, Aclaimant and more.
Ironshore Environmental Contractors’ Environmental Legal Liability policy can now be broadened to include Professional Liability for certain contractor classes. Ironshore’s CELL coverage responds to third-party bodily injury, property damage and remediation of environmental damages resulting from pollution incidents caused by the contractor’s work at a job site. A pollution incident is not required to trigger a professional incident. In addition to the new Professional Liability enhancement, CELL also includes coverage for pollution liability associated with transportation, non-owned sites and time-element pollution incidents at an insured’s owned sites, as well as costs associated with image restoration, disinfection events and pre-claim expenses.
Zurich North America is expanding its professional apprenticeship program from its Chicagoland headquarters to its downtown New York City office this fall, with the Borough of Manhattan Community College as the education provider. Zurich’s earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship program, launched at its Schaumburg headquarters in 2016, is designed to attract diverse talent to the insurance industry while providing a debt-free path to a professional career. Zurich apprentices include high school graduates or those with an equivalent certification, veterans of the armed forces, people wanting to move from a job to a career, those returning to the workforce after a hiatus for family reasons, and others attracted by the prospect of a guaranteed job and promotion upon successful completion of the two-year program.
Philadelphia Insurance Companies is donating $1 million to organizations and community relief funds leading response and recovery efforts for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The contribution will go to organizations across the country addressing food and economic insecurity and those delivering critical medical and social services.
Aclaimant launched its COVID-19 Response Module, which provides a streamlined workflow to ensure employee safety and give organizations the tools and resources needed to document and respond to COVID-19-related workplace incidents while providing best practices for prevention. This module will be offered for free through March 31, 2021, to any US-based organization that signs up by June 15, 2020.
USDA’s Risk Management Agency is making further adjustments to assist producers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, Approved Insurance Providers are authorized to extend the deadlines for payment of premiums and administrative fees, defer the resulting accrual of interest and to extend the correction time period for acreage reports or other forms. It is authorizing AIPs to provide additional time for policyholders to make payment of premium and administrative fees and to waive accrual of interest the earlier of 60 days after their scheduled payment due date or the termination date on policies with premium billing dates between May 1, 2020, and July 31, 2020.
Tokio Marine HCC announced the acquisition of specialist renewable energy underwriter, GCube. The acquisition will create a new ‘centre of excellence’ in renewable energy insurance, combining GCube’s 25-year track record supporting renewables developers and asset owners worldwide with Tokio Marine HCC’s global footprint and financial scale. Following the acquisition by Tokio Marine HCC, GCube will be well-placed to expand its presence in key renewables markets worldwide, including Japan and Taiwan, while continuing to develop and enhance its product offering to asset and portfolio owners.