Insurance Products & Services

The uptick in ‘ express kidnappings ’ and hijackings across South Africa has opened the door for non-life insurance brokers to add value to clients and bolster their annual premiums by including kidnap and ransom cover in their portfolios. Your writer spent some time mulling over the opening line for today’s newsletter, fearing it might be labelled insensitive; then again, crime triggers many insurance claims. Crime: a significant contributor to insured losses Non-life insurance is designed to respond to on-the-ground risks faced by businesses and households within an economy. Risk mitigation efforts aside, it should protect the insured against losses due to all covered perils, whether from natural catastrophes, manmade disasters or criminal activity. Statistics from the South African Police Service (SAPS) paint a gloomy picture: a 260% increase in kidnappings over the past decade, with an alarming 4 577 cases reported countrywide in the final quarter of 2023. This translates to 51 kidnappings per day over that period, with around two of those being kidnapping for ransom. There have been several high-profile kidnapping for ransom cases reported in the local media recently. In November 2021, a business family paid a R50 million ransom for the safe release of their sons, who had been kidnapped on the way to school. And in early July, a report on eNCA revealed that around 20 Portuguese butchery owners or staff had been kidnapped since 1 January 2023. The crime is so prevalent that the banking division of the National Financial Ombudsman (NFO) has received complaints related to ‘express kidnappings’ where consumers suffered losses after disclosing confidential banking information under duress. For the uninformed, an express kidnapping can be thought of as an extended robbery: criminals ‘grab’ a victim and force that individual to transfer cash out of his or her bank accounts, often holding the victim overnight to reset transfer and withdrawal limits. To learn more about the crime, and the insurance options available to your clients, FAnews spoke to Catia Folgore, Product Head: Crisis Management at iTOO Special Risks. Folgore said the product has evolved significantly over the two decades she has been involved in this specialist area. Growing risk of living in South Africa “When we first started looking at kidnap and ransom, it was mainly a commercial cover for companies that were sending their employees into high-risk countries; now we offer the product to individuals too,” she said. Today, iTOO offers a corporate solution that allows the employer to specify the employees covered and stipulate areas of operation, or a family policy for small business owners or individuals who travel frequently or (sadly) are simply concerned over the growing risks of living in South Africa. It is common practice for families to take out low-premium, low-limit policies to unlock the incalculable benefit of post-event responders. There are 20 events covered on the policy including kidnap and ransom and wrongful detention, with an important distinction between the ‘long tail’ kidnappings portrayed in Hollywood blockbusters, where hostages are held for months while a release is negotiated, and the emerging ‘short tail’ or express kidnappings that afflict the South African landscape. “We added express kidnapping cover because it is much needed in South Africa,” Folgore explained. In these cases, criminals typically take the victim to an ATM and force them to withdraw cash, sometimes even transferring funds between accounts to steal the maximum possible amount. Other lines on the policy include accidental death and disability; medical expenses and assistance following disappearance, hijacking, stalking or threats. The personal lines policy is described as “very comprehensive for the amount of premium paid annually” with commercial insureds able to add business interruption cover too. From a personal lines perspective, the real selling point is access to consultants or responders who assist when a kidnapping or related incident occurs. To this end, iTOO has partnered with an international firm that has 39 years of experience handling over 1500 kidnapping and ransom cases in 80 countries. Kidnap and ransom pay-outs Brokers need to be clear about how the policy pays out. Folgore noted that the full amount billed by their third-party responders is covered by the policy, but cash stolen during an express kidnapping, or any ransom paid, is only reimbursed after the event, subject to policy conditions and limits. As for costs, a typical family policy starts from around R15 000,00 annually, with variations based on underwriting factors. “This is not a one-size-fits-all policy; you might have a family of two versus an extended family of 15, or a member who frequently travels into Africa versus one that only travels domestically,” Folgore explained. Taking out some level of kidnap and ransom cover seems a no-brainer, given the content of the NFO’s recent media release on the topic. Nerosha Maseti, Lead Ombudsman for the Banking Division at the NFO, highlighted the trend in which “criminals force banking customers to disclose their online banking and banking app passwords under threat of violence (duress) after kidnapping and detaining them; once criminals gain access, they can alter account limits and make unauthorised transfers, causing significant financial losses in addition to the trauma of the kidnapping itself.” The NFO shared a case study in which a complainant lost over R100 000,00 following an express kidnapping. In this instance, the victim bypassed the bank’s crime and fraud mitigations under duress and was subsequently refused a refund when reporting the incident to the bank. Pay attention, dear reader, to the NFO’s conclusion regarding the bank’s liability here: “Given the merits of this matter, there were no legal grounds on which we could hold the bank liable for the complainant’s loss – he was essentially a victim of a crime in which the bank was not involved,” Maseti said. Duress or not, the customer had compromised confidential banking details. A costly affair The above sum is small change compared to the full-blown kidnapping and ransom demands that occur periodically. iTOO reports that the lowest ransom they have paid was around R500 000,00 with demands in some of the riskier countries often starting from around USD50 000,00. “We usually quote for a personal lines ransom cover of half-a-million to two million rand,” the expert noted. The cost of third-party resolution experts, fully covered by the policy, can quickly reach thousands of rand, with one recent case costing around R440 000,00 for a six-day-long investigation into a threat incident. There are checks and balances before a pay-out is processed against an express kidnapping claim. “We rely on our consultants, who are involved from the start; we also collect information from the insured, including bank statements, ATM footage and sworn affidavits,” Folgore said. She admitted that the addition of express kidnapping cover was linked to the spike in this type of crime domestically, and said that iTOO was doing whatever it could to train brokers on the evolving cover, to ensure that commercial and personal lines clients were appropriately covered. Writer’s thoughts: Insurance brokers, insurers and underwriting managers are under pressure to respond to the evolving risk landscape. Do you believe kidnap and ransom cover should be a standard offering for every personal lines client rather than a ‘nice to have’ for corporates and high net worth (HNW) families? Original Article - FA News