LEARN MORE
COMMERCIAL CRIME INSURANCE
Undeniably, you can’t ignore white collar crime which is rising at an alarming rate. Business owners are becoming more and more prone to fraud involving computers. The reality is that it’s more the senior staff and trusted employees that commit fraudulent activities. And when they strike, they do it not for once but again and again over a period of time.
Although many business owners have solid internal controls, there’s always a possibility that these controls can be breached by third parties or even employees. The only absolute failsafe to protect the companies’ assets and ensure that crime cannot and will not hurt the long-term viability of your business is to purchase commercial crime insurance.
Commercial crime insurance covers a business against loss of money, securities or other property resulting from one or more fraudulent or dishonest acts of employees of the insured acting alone or in collusion with others including electronic and/or computer third party fraud, funds transfer and losses arising from unidentified employees.
We recommend Commercial Crime Insurance as opposed to traditional Fidelity Guarantee Insurance for the following reasons - broad protection for loss of money, property and securities from a wide range of criminal activity, there is no requirement to show ‘manifest intent’ or to identify a fraudulent or dishonest employee, one deductible applies to loss from inter-related criminal acts and worldwide coverage.
If your employees handle financial records and transactions, or if they are trusted with valuable client property, you and your business partners could use this coverage as part of your risk management program to gain client trust. Call or email Assurein Insurance for more details.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What Is Business Crime Insurance?
Business crime insurance, also known as commercial crime insurance, is a type of insurance policy that a business can buy to protect itself from losses from business-related crime. Protection through the policy can cover cash, assets, merchandise, or other property loss when someone perpetrates fraud, embezzlement, forgery, misrepresentation, robbery, theft, or any other type of business-related crime on the company.
Should My Business Get Commercial Crime Insurance?
The short answer is yes. Commercial Crime Insurance could provide the only reimbursement you receive if an employee commits theft or fraud against your clients or customers. The policy can be taken by small businesses, banks, financial institutions, investment firms, and financial tech companies, E-commerce businesses and wholesalers, nonprofit organizations, retail stores and restaurants, businesses with certain reputational risks and companies handling sensitive financial information and securities. We work with businesses of all types and sizes.
Do I Need Commercial Crime Insurance if I Have Cyber Liability Insurance?
We recommend reviewing all policies to understand your coverage. For example, in most cases, commercial crime coverage differs from other offerings because it’s intended to mitigate losses from intentional criminal activity committed by an employee. In contrast, cyber liability coverage minimizes losses from online fraud attacks, phishing scams, stolen credit card information, and other illegal activity committed by an outside party. In other words, no two policies are alike, so we recommend you speak with an insurance expert to find the best coverage for your organization.
What Are Precautions To Take In Order To Prevent Commercial Crime insurance claims?
The best precautions are to have employee screening process for new hires. Many claims for crime coverage happen “in house” and are from people who know the business best. Video cameras and alarm system will help. Having the proper channels for accounting and keeping up with your inventory also help you keep track of knowing what the business has. When these numbers change for unknown reasons, there is a good chance something strange is going on
What Is The Most Common Claim On Commercial Crime Insurance?
Unfortunately, most claims on crime insurance happen by those that you employ or with someone who is related to one of your employees. We reiterate this along with question number 4 because most people think that they do not need crime insurance because they don’t think a robbery will happen to their business or some other crime due to the location of their business. Many of the times though, crime insurance is needed because of some sort of employee dishonesty.
What Does Commercial Crime Coverage Exclude?
Despite all of these coverage inclusions in the commercial crime policy, your insurance will not cover theft from you or your partners. If your business partner steals from the company, your insurance policy will not cover that theft. The policy will likewise not cover any theft resulting from an employee that you know has a history of theft or other dishonest acts. This term “dishonest acts” can be interpreted with a very broad lens, but most likely applies to criminal acts of dishonesty. A criminal act of dishonesty is something along the lines of fraud, and would require an actual conviction