Beyond International Programs – Cover Exclusions for Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

The European insurance and reinsurance markets are currently not providing any new covers for property and business interruption risks in the territory of the Russian Federation, in Belarus and, with a few exceptions, in Ukraine. For ongoing insurance programs with inception before the start of the Ukraine war, there is in most cases still insurance cover through the agreed home country Master contracts, DIC and FInC covers until next renewal.
 
However, the geographical scope will be restricted for all upcoming renewals and new contracts, and the countries mentioned will thus generally be excluded from insurance cover. This primarily affects the designated locations previously insured under the programs, but the exclusion goes beyond that and applies equally to any non-specified risk and assets located in those territories. In the past, such risks were included in standard insurance contracts, for example, by special clauses for small foreign risks (offices, small storage places etc.) or by the automatic temporary inclusion of “New business locations”. In Business interruption, all supply-chain disruption and NPDBI endorsements may be concerned.
 
It should therefore be checked in all upcoming renewals whether there could be a gap in coverage because of the general exclusion of those territories, which has to be discussed with the client.  Unfortunately, the only remaining alternative is to try to buy insurance cover for these risks from local insurance companies with the support from our local co-broker.
 
Even if property insurance is the main topic here, it should be noted that a similar exclusion for risks that arise within the affected countries can also be expected to prevail in the other lines of insurance.

The article is written by Andreas Krebs.