Professional & Business Services

Because giving expert advice is key to Professional & Business Services companies, Zurich has focused on and strengthened the ways in which this aspect of business can be fully protected. Through significant advances in Zurich’s Professional Indemnity, we have increased sub limits for loss of documents up to £1,000,000, representation costs up to £25,000 and increased court attendance costs to £25,000.

For most office based companies, computers are core to their business. Loss or damage will result in business interruption and financial loss. The claims we experience for computers left on premises include water damage, fire and power failures. We cover laptops left on trains, buses, on top of cars, dropped or that have coffee spilt on them. Zurich offers cover for all types of computer equipment and any additional costs required to reinstate any lost data or records.

The value of a brand and its industry reputation is a key asset of any business. Mismanaged exposure can cost your customers money. Negative exposure within the press can severely damage the value of a brand and its reputation, resulting in loss of revenue, loss of customer confidence and shareholder value. We have introduced a Brand Protection extension to our existing cover to alleviate damage to the reputation of the company, following a significant claim or insured loss to our property and casualty covers.

Increasing environmental legislation has seen greater demands on clean up, carbon reduction and pollution control. In addition, our energy saving partners 4see provide independent and robust Energy, Environmental and Sustainability solutions that offer significant cost savings and carbon reductions. Zurich’s Risk Management Services are able to support you and your customers through greater insight on these issues including the cost pressures on construction (or reconstruction after an incident), that require the use of non-combustible materials.

Following an insured loss causing damage and subsequent interruption to your clients’ office, it is essential to get the business back up and running as quickly as possible. We will source alternative office space, set up internet / network connections / electronic equipment and redirect phone lines through our selected suppliers First Recovery. In instances where accessing electronic data is critical to staying in business, a 20gb back-office data backup and restore service can be provided. The Disaster Recovery service is integrated into our Professional & Business Services commercial property and business interruption policies as a ‘no cost’ option and forms part of our claims service.

Employee Fraud is a growing issue in the UK. The Association of Chief Police Officers recently estimated that fraud costs the UK economy around £20 billion a year and that most fraudulent acts are committed by employees. Our Crime policy is suitable for any UK domiciled company with a turnover of up to £300 million. It covers all employees wanting to protect against the loss of money or goods caused by fraud or dishonesty of any employee including students, temporary agency staff and others hired and covers auditors’ fees incurred in any investigations. The policy can be extended to cover third party computer fraud and forgery and can be extended to cover losses from any employee pension or benefit fund set up by the insured. It can also be extended to cover auditors’ fees incurred in the investigation of a claim. This includes costs incurred in rewriting software programs following fraudulent use and reconstruction of documents.

Risk management is a key issue for all professionals and something we at Zurich seek to promote. We share a common interest with your clients in minimising their exposure to professional negligence claims. To that end our Professional Indemnity Risk Management team provide practical focused risk management advice to alleviate risk and produce a regular Professionals @risk publication, which addresses topical risk issues for a variety of professional practices as well as more focused customer level advice.