Willis Towers Watson (WTW), together with global specialty and commercial insurance products provider Liberty Specialty Markets, has launched a new insurance product designed to help organizations deal with reputational crises.
The new reputational crisis insurance was developed through an exclusive partnership between WTW and Liberty Specialty Markets. In addition to offering insurance which transfers the financial risk associated with certain types of reputational crises, it also offers clients access to a suite of non-insurance capabilities, such as AI-powered data analysis.
Clients will also be provided reputational data and intelligence analysis by Polecat Intelligence Limited as part of the insurance solution.
The insurance solution is available globally and will be first offered to clients in the leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, retail, and transportation sectors.
According to WTW Asia head of casualty, corporate risk and broking Barbara Fabbri, the nature of public trust in authority – whether private or state sector – has drastically changed in the last five years.
“The balance of power in the context of influencing public perception has shifted from the boardroom and into the hands of the smartphone generation. Organizations … find themselves in a volatile and dangerous reputational environment with significant and abstract forces to contend with,” said Fabbri. “WTW is pleased to be at the forefront of moving the conversation away from the drawing board and towards the delivery of a tangible fiduciary support mechanism for clients.”
“Most reputational products in the market currently only respond to the crisis communication fees incurred following a reputational crisis event,” added Liberty Specialty Markets head of underwriting, specialty binders Lewis Edwards. “This new product is one of the few that provides coverage for the loss of an organization’s gross profit following such an event, providing financial protection and also giving clients the tools they need to protect their reputation.”
Edwards prefaced that the ability to act immediately and transparently following a reputation crisis “can have a hugely positive impact on a crisis outcome.”
