Specialty MGA Fiducia has partnered with Lloyd's Syndicates Ascot and Chaucer to offer CBRN terrorism insurance for UK businesses.

The new policy can be purchased alongside the MGA's current terrorism policy and offers a significant aggregate limit, with clean-up / decontamination costs automatically covered. The policy can be extended to provide denial of access resulting from any CBRN event within a 5-mile radius.

Terrorism underwriter at Fiducia, David Heeney said: “What we saw in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack was 3,000 companies fail to open their doors again, as they simply could not afford to sustain the business through the huge level of business interruption that followed.

"The threat posed by [CBRN] attack is different. Chemicals, radiation and viral infection can be carried significant distances from where it was detonated or released and as such with the threat levels increasing it is an issue for the market and our clients.

“Regional brokers are keen to ensure their clients are offered the protections they need but terrorism has been one area where there has been a real need for an innovative approach.

“The COVID pandemic has impacted every business and insurance brokers are no different. We believe that our new policy will once again enable our broker partners to offer their clients a cover they may not realise they require at a price which is affordable for the peace of mind it will deliver.”

Fiducia's launch comes after British terrorism expert, Andrew Silke, published a report examining the impact of COVID on the global threat of terrorism and identified the potential rise in the likelihood of a CBRN attack.

“One genuine concern is that COVID-19 may lead to a resurgence in interest among terrorists for using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons. Historically, a range of terrorist movements have been interested in bioterrorism though there have been very few successful attacks by terrorists using biological weapons," the Cranfield University professor of terrorism risk management and resilience said. "While serious obstacles certainly remain, the huge impact of COVID-19 may re-ignite some interest in biological weapons.”

While Pool Re offers cover for CBRN in conjunction with its standard terrorism cover, insureds cannot choose the specific location and/or the premises they would like to cover. Firms have to purchase a policy that covers all premises in which they operate.

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