Business insurance questions go wrong when they start from a product list. Public liability, professional indemnity, cyber, directors’ and officers’ cover, property and interruption are labels. The risk is a contract performed in another country, a person employed somewhere else, or a subsidiary that nobody added. The business insurance page is the longer map. This is the reading order.
Map the activity
Which company signs. What it does. Where the work happens. Who is employed, contracted, or working remotely. Who the clients are and what their contracts require. A policy that does not name the entity or the country is a policy about a different business. Ask the broker to write the territory and the insured entities in sentences you can check.
Local rules and local clients
Some countries require particular policies for employers or for professions. This site does not list them. Ask in each country you operate. A client may also require a limit and a jurisdiction. Put that clause next to the schedule. A global wording can sit above local policies. It should not be assumed to replace them.
Renew when the business changes, not only when the price does
A new country, a new product, an acquisition, a remote hire or a claim is a reason to reopen the schedule. A renewal that only compares premium will miss them. Cyber cover should be read for what help exists after an incident, not only for the word cyber. Professional indemnity should be read against the services you actually sell.
A domestic policy often stops at the border you have already crossed
Business insurance bought for a company in one country may assume the work, the staff and the lawsuits happen there. Once directors live abroad, staff work in another country, or customers are elsewhere, ask the insurer what the policy still covers. Public liability, professional indemnity, cyber, property and employers’ risks are different contracts, sometimes bundled and sometimes not. This guide does not list what is compulsory anywhere. Compulsory cover is local law, and it changes. Ask a broker or a lawyer who can look at the countries you actually operate in.
Name the entities. A policy in the name of a parent company does not automatically cover a subsidiary, a branch, or a contractor. Ask which legal entity is insured, in which territories, and whether employees and contractors are treated differently. Remote work from a country you did not mention is a fact to disclose, not a lifestyle detail.
Put the schedule next to the organogram
Keep a one-page note of where the company is formed, where people work, and where customers are, and review the insurance against that page when it changes. Ask who must be told of a claim and how quickly. Ask whether a personal policy of a director is expected to fill a gap. It usually will not, and hoping is a poor control.
If you use an employer of record or a payroll agent, ask who insures the employment and who insures the work. The contract with that firm should say. Keep it with the policy. The WiT Access business insurance page is the place to see the questions set out by topic. It does not recommend an insurer or a premium.
Before you act
When you brief a broker, give them the dull facts first: legal entities, countries where people sit, countries where customers are, and the contracts you have already signed that promise a particular cover. Ask them to mark what your current policies do not appear to cover, and to say which gaps are a matter of law and which are a matter of judgement. You can decide the judgement. You should not guess the law. If a personal travel or home policy has been quietly filling a business gap, name that habit so it can be replaced with something that is meant for the work. Review the result when you hire in a new country or when a director moves, because those are the moments the old schedule becomes fiction.
A practical checklist
- Entities listed.
- Countries of work listed.
- Employees and contractors distinguished.
- Client insurance clauses collected.
- Local compulsory cover asked about, not assumed away.
- Territory and jurisdiction read in the wording.
Questions to ask
- Which legal entities are insured?
- Which countries are covered?
- Where can a claim be brought?
- Are subsidiaries and remote workers included?
- Does a client’s required limit match the policy?
- Which local policies are still required?
Common mistakes
- A ‘global’ label with no territory.
- A subsidiary formed and not added.
- Remote workers ignored.
- Cyber bought without asking about incident response.
- Assuming a master policy satisfies a local statute.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
