Gloria Gonzalez

11/13/2018 1:22:00 PM

Source: Business Insurance

Pool Reinsurance Co. Ltd. is pushing forward with plans to offer nondamage business interruption coverage in light of the ongoing severe threat of terrorism in the United Kingdom.

Eight terrorist attacks in Great Britain since 2014 have resulted in 37 deaths and 261 injuries, while there have been 17 disrupted terrorist plots in that time, the U.K. government-backed terrorism reinsurance backstop said in a report published Tuesday.

“It is therefore unsurprising that the UK threat level from Islamist extremism remains at severe and is likely to remain so for the next 18 to 24 months,” the organization said in its report.

“Islamist extremism will continue to pose the main threat to the UK in the foreseeable future, with Daesh remaining the most effective global entity,” the report concluded. “The risk of a spectacular attack, by either (al Qaeda) or Daesh, cannot be discounted, nor can the growing threat posed by (Extreme Right Wing) terrorism.”

Pool Re is planning to cover nondamage business interruption once legislative changes are passed to allow the extension of such coverage, the organization said in its statement accompanying the report. From that point, Pool Re will be able to cover losses caused when businesses cannot operate because of a wide police cordon even though their premises may not be damaged, as happened in London’s Borough Market in June 2017.

If approved in Parliament, the new NDBI cover will include loss of trade caused by being unable to access, exit or use the insured’s premises because of the actions of the police or another statutory authority when responding to terrorist activity, according to the statement. It will also provide cover for loss of business as a result of a downturn in customer footfall at insured businesses within a mile of a terrorist incident.

Pool Re is hoping to provide the coverage beginning in January, according to the report.

In April 2018, Pool Re added new coverage for physical damage caused by an act of cyber terrorism. (see below)