XL Group: New Umbrella Casualty Form
XL Group plc’s Excess Casualty’s North American Umbrella team has launched its new umbrella policy form.
According to Lorraine Seib, President of XL Group’s Excess Casualty group, “While XL is well-known for its Bermuda beginnings as an excess liability provider; our on-shore reputation for quality excess casualty capacity has grown since the inception of our US operations in 2001. So has our appetite on lead umbrella opportunities.”
“Our global platform, significant limits and now enhanced “A/B Umbrella” form puts us in a very strong position to help US companies protect their assets above and beyond their primary coverage,” said Ms. Seib. “Umbrella insurance is a major line of defense in the event of catastrophic claims or lawsuit and companies need to make sure they are protected by a well-crafted umbrella policy from a carrier equipped to handle it.”
“Consistency of terms with underlying insurance is the greatest benefit offered in our new form,” according to Diane Amodeo, XL Group’s Chief Underwriting Officer for Excess Casualty.
“The form offers two insuring agreements in one policy. Insuring Agreement A follows the terms of underlying primary insurance therefore eliminating potential for coverage gaps and need for manuscript endorsements while Insuring Agreement B provides traditional stand alone umbrella on its own terms over a Self Insured Retention (SIR).”
“Another advantage in XL Group’s new umbrella policy is that under Insuring Agreement A, the general aggregate limit automatically applies in the same manner as aggregate limits in the primary, other than products-completed operations aggregate,” explained Ms. Amodeo. “And we have included Disaster Response coverage – a frequent coverage request by endorsement — as Insuring Agreement C in our new umbrella form.”
The XL Group companies’ umbrella coverage is available on an occurrence basis with limits up to $25 million in the US. Coverage is provided by XL Specialty Insurance Company or on a surplus lines basis from XL Group’s Indian Harbor Insurance Company.
