Change reflects company's growth in commercial lines
Fortis has announced significant enhancements to its Commercial Guard portfolio of 10 products that see a dramatic increase in cover levels across the entire range. The standard sums insured and the limits introduced across Fortis’ commercial product range as part of the revamp, have been set at a level to suit typical businesses in the SME sector.
The most significant change to the Commercial Guard portfolio is that machinery and computer breakdown are now included as standard across the full range. Legal expenses have also been included as a standard cover across the entire commercial portfolio with an automatic limit of indemnity of £50,000, with the option to increase to £100,000.
Adam Clarke, Fortis director of underwriting said: “Often seen as an unaffordable luxury by customers, the standardisation across the range has allowed us to include machinery and computer cover as the norm. We believe this will prove an invaluable addition and one that we are proud to be providing, as our brokers will be able to cater for more customer needs within just one product. Furthermore, the generous legal expenses that we now provide cover everything from employment disputes to legal defence and bodily injury. Both of these are automatically included within the policies, with no action required by either intermediaries or customers.”
A fidelity guarantee is now also available as optional cover to the automatic legal expenses on either a specified or unspecified employee basis. Extensions, including superseded insurance cover and the cost of amending computer programmes, have also been added.
Other key changes applicable across the entire commercial portfolio include increasing the standard money-in-a-safe cover from £1,000 to £2,500, with glass cover also extended to include the framework, glass substitute materials and all external signs. Malicious attack cover now includes medical expenses up to £250.
The changes come following the publication of Fortis’ year-end results, which show the insurer’s commercial lines products delivering in 2007 a 10.4% year on year increase in GWP to GBP £70.2m (2006 GBP £63.6m). With the growth of commercial policies written by 16.1% to 170,090, this clearly illustrates the insurer’s commitment to its commercial policyholders in the coming years.
Clarke said: “Our commercial lines products have continued to perform well this year, and I am confident the changes we are introducing will build on this success in the future. Fortis is known for the quality of its products and our competitive pricing; we hope that the changes we are making demonstrate our commitment to constantly review and evolve our offering to ensure that we are delivering for our customers and welcome feedback from our brokers to guarantee that we do.”
