Oh, The World We Live In!!

A client of mine called the other day and asked if I could track down some kidnap insurance for his top executives. They have a very successful world wide company and their success has started to expose them to the realities of being American in places where our dollar may not be worth much, but we are.

These guys all have plenty of life insurance that will cover them if someone were to just out and out whack them, but it seemed to them to be prudent planning to have insurance that will cough up the ransom money if they are kidnapped.

While I very seldom wander out of my expertise in life insurance and disability income, I was curious and certainly wanted to do what I could for a good client, sooo……I inquired at an outlet I have for travel life insurance. These guys have provided policies for clients of mine as diverse as mineral exploration in New Guinea to civilian contracting work in Iraq.

My clients were looking for coverage for kidnap, ransom and extortion in Israel, India, Russia, Philippines, and Mexico to start with. They wanted the option of adding countries as opportunities came up. We were able to get them coverage for up to $3,000,000 per employee for just $3600 annually. And check this out…

Limit of Liability: $3,000,000 Ransom per Insured Event
$3,000,000 Transit per Insured Event
Unlimited Consultants Expenses per Insured Event
$3,000,000 Additional Expenses per Insured Event
$3,000,000 Legal Liability per Insured Event
Personal Accident: $250,000 per Insured Person
$1,250,000 in the annual aggregate
Policy Extensions: All Perils Extortion Loss of Earnings at full policy limit;
Computer Virus Business Interruption at $500,000 limit;
Threat Expense Response at $50,000 per insured event and in the aggregate;
Express Kidnap at $150,000 per insured event and in the aggregate;
Disappearance at $50,000 per insured event;
Travel Evacuation at $150,000 per insured event and in the aggregate; all per
terms and conditions of attached wordings

They seem to have all the bases covered and at $3600 annually, it is a nominal expense to know that they have a reasonably instant way to respond to the unthinkable.

Bottom line. If your company has worldwide exposure and there is a possibility of working in areas where the kidnap and ransom business is alive and well, consider insuring against that possibility.