Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company Announces Withdrawal from Hong Kong Government Employees’ Compensation Terro...
December 09 2018 - 8:30PM
Business Wire
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI) announced
that it has withdrawn from the Hong Kong Employees’ Compensation
(EC) terrorism pool (the pool) effective December 1, 2018. This
decision benefits all BHSI’s new and existing EC customers for
policies incepting or renewing on or after December 1, 2018. BHSI
is now the first insurer in Hong Kong to provide EC terrorism
coverage to customers directly, backed by Berkshire Hathaway
Specialty Insurance Company’s financial strength.
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BHSI Hong Kong (Photo: Business Wire)
The EC terrorism pool was established to provide terrorism cover
for Hong Kong EC policyholders after the September 11th terror
events when capacity had receded in the international markets.
Whilst participation is voluntary, the pool provides a maximum
limit of HK $10 billion which until now was shared among all EC
policyholders for all terrorism claims on a “first come, first
served” basis. Insurers participating in the pool must charge their
EC policyholders a 3% levy on policy premiums which is then
remitted to the Hong Kong SAR Government. According to the terms of
the pool, those participating insurers are not obligated to pay EC
terrorism claims to their customers until the pool first pays the
insurer for the claims.
Effective December 1, the EC terrorism coverage provided by BHSI
is no longer subject to any of the pool’s restrictions. BHSI’s
customers are no longer subject to the 3% levy on their EC policy
premiums; BHSI policyholders no longer need to share a limit with
all the other EC policyholders in Hong Kong; and payments for
terrorism claims are no longer contingent upon payment or
reimbursement from the pool.
“The feedback from the customers and brokers we have discussed
our approach with has been incredibly encouraging,” said Marc
Breuil, CEO of BHSI Hong Kong. “BHSI’s Employees’ Compensation
policies are now exclusively backed by its own financial strength –
which carries the same S&P rating as the Hong Kong SAR
Government – and provide EC terrorism coverage to policyholders
without the obligation to pay the levy. We are excited to offer
this market-changing coverage development to our current and future
EC customers, said Mr. Breuil.”
To learn more, contact marc.breuil@bhspecialty.com.
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (www.bhspecialty.com)
provides commercial property, casualty, healthcare professional
liability, executive and professional lines, surety, travel,
programs, medical stop loss, accident and health, and homeowners
insurance. The actual and final terms of coverage for all product
lines may vary. In the Asia Middle East region, it underwrites on
the paper of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company, which
holds financial strength ratings of A++ from AM Best and AA+ from
Standard & Poor’s. Based in Boston, Berkshire Hathaway
Specialty Insurance has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago,
Houston, Indianapolis, Irvine, Los Angeles, New York, San
Francisco, San Ramon, Seattle, Stevens Point, Auckland, Brisbane,
Dubai, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Macau,
Melbourne, Munich, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto.
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For Berkshire Hathaway Specialty InsuranceCherry Gao, +852 3729
1300