Mr. Insurer, Tear Down That Wall!

Current policy language for tech and media companies is a relic from the dawn of the digital age, back when companies and their carriers were grappling with questions like whether software is a “product or a service.” That’s the contention of Michael Brunero, head of tech, media and intellectual property at London-based CFC Underwriting, interviewed in Canadian Underwriter.

As a result, he says, risk managers confront long complicated questions, and separate policies written for various identified causes of loss. Failure of a tangible product? Flawed Software? Bad advice? Faulty installation? Etc.

This is to be followed with another series of questions that define the nature of the potential loss. Bodily injury? Property damage? Financial loss?

It’s a process that leads to pigeonholing and “the traditional practice of placing exposures into different buckets in separate policies,” according to Brunero.  (He maintains his company has revamped its policy wordings to get past it.)