In today’s business environment—especially during the pandemic—businesses needed to find a way to stay afloat. This means that accounts, both big and small, have had to find a way to expand their reach both domestically and internationally.
Small- to medium-sized businesses have been able to access platforms such as Etsy, and Amazon to sell their products globally at an increasing pace, which presents challenges when it comes to liability that surrounds their products.
To address the issue of expanding distribution opportunities, some domestic insurers will represent this liability their general liability policy with a worldwide coverage. However, the only caveat to the coverage is that any lawsuits must be brought up in the United States.
Beyond the U.S.
So, what happens if a customer decides to file a lawsuit in the United Kingdom, China or beyond? There are many insurance companies in the marketplace that can provide foreign coverage for these exposures, including:
- business travel,
- coverage for exporters or accounts with locations in other countries, and
- a need for a full foreign package.
The right advice
In today’s market, agents and brokers must be vigilant about this area of specialization and ask the right questions to provide the proper coverage for our clients—do they need worldwide coverage or foreign coverage?
In the past, we may have been vigilant about advising our manufacturer clients who may be interested in putting together contracts to sell to suppliers or distributors abroad about the global insurance coverages available to them. However, now we need to be on the lookout for our small-business shop owner clients who decide to sell their products on internet platforms.
Both types of businesses now have a global reach that had been reserved to large companies in the past. Don’t miss out on the opportunities to advise your clients about all the coverages that are available to them before they have a claim, or are subjected to a lawsuit.
My question for you all is: Got Global?
Daniel Tague
Daniel Tague, CPIA, is an insurance professional with over 15 years experience in the middle market property/casualty and specialty insurance marketplace. Currently, Dan is a vice president of underwriting at N2G Worldwide Insurance Services and a licensed p/c and surplus-lines agent in all 50 states. N2G is a joint venture powered by Nationwide and Generali focusing on middle market to large p/c accounts in the multinational insurance marketplace.
