First glimpse at COVID-19 losses: Advisen Data Spotlight
Advisen
First glimpse at COVID-19 losses: Advisen Data Spotlight
By Rebecca Gainsburg, Advisen
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economy and swung open doors to new risks as stay-at-home orders took hold across the world. Insurers have been and will continue to be called upon to pay losses caused directly or indirectly by the virus, especially as government officials and businesses take steps to open up the economy.
In an effort to understand the widespread impact the pandemic will have on businesses worldwide, Advisen has increased data-collection efforts and added more than 150 COVID-19 related losses over the last several weeks.
Policy-language disputes over business interruption coverage have been widely publicized, but exposures revealed by the virus amid new and different business operations have touched other lines of business, including cyber, directors & officers, and employment practices liability.
Losses gathered and entered in Advisen’s database span 12 different countries, 30 states and dozens of loss categories – allowing organizations to have a glimpse at how the pandemic will touch the insurance industry and the global economy.
Thus far, cyber/identity risk had the highest frequency of losses, followed by financial practices, trade practices and services & operations, according to the database. The graphic below shows a breakdown of losses by category (inner circle) and type (outer circle).
Types and Categories of Covid-19 Losses
Public administration currently has the largest percentage of COVID-19 related losses of any industry in Advisen’s database. Finance & insurance and transportation & warehousing so far have the second- and third-highest frequency of COVID-19 losses at 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Cyber was the most frequent cause of loss in the public administration sector, accounting for one-third of the losses. Public-officials liability and general liability each accounted for 20 percent of the remaining public administration losses, which includes losses from civil, voting and prisoners’ rights.
In the finance & insurance sector, 80 percent of losses are currently from insurance coverage. Fraudulent trade practices, malicious data breaches and banking claims account for the remaining 20 percent.
Covid-19 Loss Breakdown, by Industry
Other notable losses in Advisen’s database include a shareholder’s class-action lawsuit against Zoom, multiple class-action lawsuits against universities for breach of contract, and a whistleblower/retaliation lawsuit filed by a nurse over a hospital’s mask-safety policies.
To learn more about Advisen’s Data call (212) 897-4800 or email support@advisen.com.
*Advisen’s loss data is curated from a wide variety of public sources. Our Covid-19 collection efforts will be updated periodically as more related losses become available. For this reason, the figures in this article may not be fully representative of all cases of this type.
