Hiscox, the international specialist insurer, announced enhancements to its industry-leading Crime & Fidelity platform with the addition of financial institution bond coverage.
The new coverage protects against incidents of employee theft, as well as a wide range of fraud and other theft risks, to financial services organizations including stockbrokers, mortgage and lending firms, banks and insurance companies.
The expansion of Hiscox’s Crime & Fidelity offerings provides protection for companies facing these growing threats and serves to mitigate the potentially significant impact of crime incursions against financial services organizations.
Financial institution bond coverage protects against risks including, but not limited to, fraudulent acts committed by an employee and outsiders such as theft, robbery, counterfeit money schemes, check forgery, and computer systems fraud.
According to the 2015 Hiscox Embezzlement Watchlist: A Snapshot of Employee Theft in the US, 21% of employee theft involved an organization in the financial services category.
The 2014 median employee theft loss for financial services organizations with less than 500 employees, where the majority of occupational frauds occur, was $271,000. This loss is nearly equivalent to the average annual profit margin for an organization of this size, further illustrating the potential magnitude of impact of employee theft on financial institutions.
"No business is immune to crime. Employee theft and fraud are very real threats with potentially devastating implications," said Doug Karpp, National Underwriting Leader for Crime & Fidelity at Hiscox.
In 2014, Hiscox launched a Private Investment Fund Portfolio that provides comprehensive protection for many types of asset management firms, including private equity funds, venture capital funds, mezzanine funds, hedge funds and real estate funds.
The portfolio provides coverage for lawsuits alleging breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, insider trading, securities law violations, conflicts of interest and other common risks faced in this industry.