Increased demand for political and trade credit risks cover

Marsh has created a new public agency team to tackle the growing shift among investors and major project developers to find cover for political and trade credit risks from public agencies.

Marsh claims the Eurozone crisis and increased volatility in the political risk landscape in the Middle East and Africa are forcing project developers to seek the security of public agency cover, and shying away from the private insurance sector.

Julie Martin, a senior vice president within Marsh’s Political Risk Practice and leader of the new public agency team believes the public sector is often overlooked until the risk landscape worsens.

She said: “In some cases, public insurance coverage is the only option for insuring challenging risks - especially those in the most volatile regions of the world.

“The political risk environment remains highly volatile and unpredictable - as highlighted by the recent expropriation events in Argentina and political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.”

Martin added that risks of payment defaults and corporate failures from the continuing global downturn is fuelling demand for trade credit insurance. The global broker intends to expand its capability within its new team to help clients access public bilateral and multilateral agencies (MDBs) and export credit agencies (ECAs).

Specialists will be based in Washington, New York, London, Toronto, Paris, Mumbai and Singapore, Marsh said.