Although insurance is an ever-evolving industry, insightful professionals have an idea of where certain coverages are headed – and for environmental liability, that’s towards widely adopted, customized policies. “With the government getting more involved with regulations, contractual obligations and requirements are becoming more normal, and we need to ensure that we’re filling in the gaps on the legal issues of this exposure,” said Ghazal Hamid, branch manager, South Western Group Ltd. For this reason, Hamid believes that the coverages will reflect this need for specialized, comprehensive pollution and environmental liability policies. “I think in the future, we’re going to see more bespoke wordings, more customized policies and more combination policies that incorporate storage tanks and the premises liability component,” Hamid added. “You’re going to see a lot of custom policies – that’s where it’s headed.” South Western Group’s is already placing itself ahead of the curve, as it offers coverage both on a project basis and as a blanket policy. In addition, it is able to tackle the wide range of risks inherent in environmental work. “If we see a risk and it needs underwritten in a proper way to make the entire spectrum covered, we can do that,” Hamid said. “We have the underwriting capability for it, and we’ve already done it.” While these features are already competitive, South Western Group is able to package them in a way that makes it the clear frontrunner in the market. Moreover, its partnership with Lloyd’s only enhances that competitive advantage even further. “We’re using our exclusive relationship that no one else has access to, and because of that, our product is superior,” Hamid said. “We’ve got broader parameters and better price points.” As a result, Hamid has no doubt that the products’ hard launch will be a triumph in December. “This is going to be something special,” he said. “There’s no one else in the market that can do what we can.”
