Hacker attacks, missing deliveries, lack of gas – companies are currently threatened by many dangers. However, the most expensive insurance losses for companies are not caused by war, the corona crisis or criminals, but by an age-old danger.
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Notwithstanding all technological advances, fire remains the most costly of all hazards for businesses. In an analysis of global claims reports in industrial insurance fires and explosions with a share of more than a fifth at the top, as announced by Allianz industrial insurer AGCS. “We’ve had one there for the last few years magnitude of 18 billion euros”, said Thomas Sepp, the board member responsible for claims settlement. This does not include forest fires.
Overall, they added up 530,000 industrial claims reports from over 200 countries and territories to almost 89 billion euros, a five-year period from the beginning of 2017 to the end of 2021 was evaluated. Allianz assumes that the high inflation will continue to drive up the damage – simply because the material and personnel costs for repairs are becoming more expensive.
Natural disasters and human error are also common causes
On second place lay behind explosion and fire natural disasters with a share of 15 percent of the total damage, followed by human error with nine percent. This includes the incorrect operation of machines as well as construction defects or poor product design.
In the industry, syndicate agreements are usually concluded with large corporate customers, so that several insurers share the risk and income. That is why the large data pool with damage reports from all over the world was available to AGCS.
This The three most common damage categories account for 45 percent of total damage worldwide. Fire also came first in the more than 47,000 industrial claims reported in Germany, although the fire protection regulations in this country are stricter than in many developing and emerging countries.
Insure against hackers: “Reject three quarters of all requests”
Not among the global top ten are hacker attacks, the number of which has increased significantly worldwide. This in turn means that many insurance companies are extremely cautious before insuring a company against cyber attacks.
Many many Companies would like to insure themselves against hackers, but don’t get a policy, because they have not upgraded their IT as required by the insurers. “We are currently rejecting around three quarters of all inquiries in Germany,” said Sepp.
Stop of production due to lack of gas, no insured event
According to AGCS, these are also becoming increasingly expensive damage caused by business interruption, for example if a company is temporarily idle due to fire, water or a storm. The AGCS did not give any absolute figures, but the average damage per case has increased from 3.1 to 3.8 million euros within the five years.
If the feared a stop in Russian gas supplies next winter should lead to that Factories and businesses stand still According to the Allianz manager, that would usually be the case no insured event: “The absence of raw materials or energy – or the delay in receiving it – is not an insurable event under normal business interruption,” said Sepp. dpa
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