Held Against Your Will - Kidnap, Ransom & Extortion Insurance

From High-Net-Worth accountants to the top dog drug dealer, this specialty insurance type not only pays out lucrative commission revenue, but has the priceless, invaluable effect of ensuring safety and well-being.

Like you may have watched on TV, kidnap situations are of diabolical effect. The huge losses a business can incur from ransom payments (remember the scene when they good guy says, "I want to negotiate a price for her freedom") and litigation expenses in terms of paying for legal representation against the kidnappers and their associates. Not least to mention, the business interruption caused, due to the fact that the firm's dear accountant, who knows the secrets of all the offshore schemes this multi-million dollar corporation has nefariously cultivated, has been kidnapped by that one bold and psycho former client.

Really does sound like it's out of a series. Personally I'm a huge fan of the Blacklist, but I won't be referencing some Netflix series in any blog post I write, no matter how captivating (no pun intended). This type of specialty insurance requires a comprehensive solution; one that helps the life assured reduce the exposure to threat, and provides an education as to how various situations and opportunities should be assessed, to ensure their validity. Most providers of such insurance such as AIG, Pulse Insurance (UK), and Marsh (USA) provide training to their partnering intermediaries on this.

The package is set up as most life insurance policy contracts are, with additional clauses to the provider attaching legal consultancy services (included in the fees as well), along with cover for legal liabilities to be incurred during and after the kidnapping, and in the worst case scenarios, such as that of the High-Net-Worth accountant, an emergency political evacuation plan to get them the heck out of their own country to an island somewhere deep in the Caribbean (like the Bahamas ;-)).

Countries where these are very prevalent are mostly in Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil) and usually clients are very wealthy global corporations, as the average corporate premium for such a policy is about USD$5,000.00 for a USD$2,000,000.00 pay-out upon claim (upon being kidnapped, this money will then pay out to the firm). Kidnap & Ransom insurance can also be available for private individuals and their families in some countries like the USA, but without the foreseeable risk of being abducted, why bother pay an average private premium of USD$500 a year?