Although kidnap insurance is not new, the risks associated with international business and personal travel have raised both awareness and the need for this little known or understood insurance product.
What does it provide?
The product that that I present to clients is arranged by Hunter McCorquodale Inc., and underwritten by certain underwriters at Lloyds and offers:
Crisis Management – In my opinion, the most important benefit of coverage is immediate, priority access to ASI Global, a specialist crisis management team. Evidence suggests that, in situations where the advice of professional crisis management specialists was available, the hostage was released safely in 90% of cases.
In addition to Crisis Management, coverage includes, but is not limited to:
- Ransom payments or loss of ransom in transit
- Fees and expenses for
- Response consultants
- Independent negotiators
- PR consultants
- Security guards at incident site
- Travel and accommodation
- Interpreters
- Post-incident benefits such as
- Psychiatric, medical and dental care
- Cosmetic or plastic surgery
- Rest and rehabilitation
What does it cost?
Here are some examples to give you an idea as to the cost of coverage.
Business executive travels to Panama City monthly, 5 to 7 days per trip in addition to one trip to Columbia. $2 million coverage for 12 months was $2,575.
Two contractors go to Afghanistan and need coverage for 9 weeks. $1 million coverage was $2,450.
Large Canadian resource company, with worldwide operations needs coverage for 20,000 employees. $5 million coverage for 12 months was $49,000.
High net worth Canadian family travels within Canada and the US for vacation. $1 million coverage, 12 month policy is $1,300.
If the idea of Somali pirates, foreign terrorists or South American/Mexican drug cartels is taking the shine off of your travel plans, Kidnap insurance might be the solution for you.
Rona Birenbaum is a certified Financial Planner and is licensed to do financial planning. Rona is registered through separate organizations for each purpose and as such, you may be dealing with more than one entity depending on the products purchased. Rona is registered through Caring-for-Clients for financial planning services. This website is not meant as a solicitation for financial advisory services. Financial advisory services are available through the facilities of Queensbury Strategies Inc. Financial Planning is not the business of or under the supervision of Queensbury Strategies Inc. and Queensbury will not be liable or responsible for such activities.