Airmic 2013: Zurich to launch product safety and recall risk assessment tool

Zurich has developed a new product safety and recall quantitative risk assessment tool that responds to a gap in the market where few product safety and recall experts exist to provide the necessary advice.

The firm said that even the largest broking houses had relatively few product safety and recall experts, making it difficult for clients to quantify their exposure.

As a result, clients of brokers may not receive the advice they need and either underestimate their exposure, purchasing policy limits that are too low, or overestimate their exposure and buy policy limits that are too high.

Due to launch before the end of the year, the tool supports brokers and their clients to assess possible product safety and recall losses and establish the most appropriate risk financing strategy.

The firm’s casualty development officer Simon Plumridge said. “There are some excellent individual brokers who are really focused on product safety and recall, but there aren’t so many of them. Because of that, it isn’t always possible for a potential buyer of product safety and recall to access that expertise.”

Zurich casualty specialty lines’ Ross Macdonald added: “In the UK, we see lots of new customers come into the market each year and one of the challenges that I think they face is sometimes when they get a premium quoted it can be difficult to put that premium in context against what their potential exposure is or what their estimated maximum loss might be. The new tool really addresses that challenge.”

Zurich has also developed a new e-learning module - “Brokers’ masterclass for product safety and recall” - to sit alongside its product safety and recall quantitative risk assessment tool.

The tool aims to demystify some of the issues around product safety and recall and is expected to launch at the same time as the quantitative risk assessment tool.

Zurich will be demonstrating its new product safety and recall quantitative risk assessment tool throughout Airmic’s three-day conference from 10 to 12 June.