Increased interest by directors and officers in the level and scope of coverage provided by their D&O policy is changing the role of the European risk manager.
According to a panel of risk managers at Advisen’s virtual European Executive Risk Insights Conference (EERIC), there is increasingly a need to provide information.
“Besides being up to date about the technical aspects of D&O insurance, risk managers must provide much more education and explain how the D&O program is designed to respond,” explained Martine Hecq, manager in charge of financial lines, nuclear insurance and captive vehicles, ENGIE.
This is very different from when D&O was first introduced in the European market. In Germany, for example, “there was a tendency to hide the cover for fear that senior management would not be as careful if they knew they had the cover in place,” said Dirk Wegener, global head of corporate insurance, Deutsche Bank. “This attitude has completely changed.”
The panelist agreed that senior managers increasingly see the exposure, understand they are at risk, and want to know what the coverage makes available to them.
“It is clear that we see, more and more, the need for information,” said Francoise Carli, VP Insurance, Sanofi. “In my organization we talk more about what is not covered by our D&O program than what is covered. We see this as a way to avoid communication errors and raise questions for people more interested in a solution than understanding the program structure.”
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Josh is an Editor at Advisen in the Research & Editorial division. He is the lead editor responsible for several of Advisen’s Front Page News editions and he also originates custom research on behalf of Advisen’s largest insurance company clients. Contact Josh at [email protected].
