Product aimed at companies with under £100m turnover
Novae Insurance, the wholly-owned FSA-regulated subsidiary of Novae Group, is launching a directors' and officers' (D&O) liability policy to coincide with changes in the law relating to deaths in the workplace.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came into force last month, provides that action for manslaughter can be brought against a company if health and safety failures result in a person's death. Previously, charges could only be brought by identifying and prosecuting an individual with a "directing mind".
Novae Insurance's new policy caters for this change in legislation by providing defence costs for cases of corporate manslaughter. It also benefits from providing two specific towers of cover for entity and directors and officers (covering both the company and the individual), both of which have separate limits of cover. In addition, both limits include specific employment practices liability.
Jon Morgan, Novae's Insurance's regional unit head of financial lines for the UK and Ireland, said that the company's expansion of its financial lines portfolio would enable it to become a major force in the sector.
He said: "This policy is aimed at privately-owned limited companies with a turnover of up to £100 million. Owing to strict UK and EU regulations, directors' and officers' personal exposures have become extensive.
"Research shows that many companies with a turnover of up to £100 million will remain without cover. The risks for directors and officers are wide-spread with many believing that limited liability status will protect them from being sued. It won't."
Novae Insurance is exhibiting on stand M12 at the Biba Conference.
