CHELGATE CHOSEN BY HISCOX FOR CRISIS CONTAINMENT COVER
18 April 2008
Insurer Hiscox, which announced record results in March, has added specialist crisis containment services to the benefits offered under its UK management liability cover.
The additional cover allows companies to make use of a specialist crisis communications consultancy, Chelgate Ltd, as soon as the directors or officers are aware of a claim or the likelihood of an insured event with a risk to reputation. Chelgate’s support will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week via a dedicated hotline.
Chelgate is a corporate communications and public affairs consultancy, selected by Hiscox because of its particular expertise and experience in crisis and acute issue management.
James Darley, Chelgate executive vice-president responsible for the Hiscox assignment explained: “The arrangement is very flexible. Sometimes the situation will require little more than a phone call or two, and a few precautionary arrangements. At other times we may be responding to a major and acute situation, demanding a team response over a protracted period.”
Tailored to the individual needs of each situation, Chelgate’s crisis communications services can be drawn upon up to £25,000 of costs. Hiscox believes this limit will provide for the great majority of cases, but if the ceiling has to be exceeded, the insured can continue to use Chelgate’s services at the same specially agreed rate.
Chelgate, which is headquartered in London, with offices in Brussels and Bucharest, is notedly low-profile and discreet, distinctively refusing to list its clients or even to announce appointments unless in clients’ specific interests.
Callum Taylor, the Hiscox underwriting manager who negotiated the deal, said: “We recognise that crisis containment requires particular expertise and experience, and in designating Chelgate as our specified consultancy, we know that we are ensuring that our clients have access to specialist crisis management expertise. In Chelgate we have a true crisis communications specialist and a firm able to work alongside our clients in every sector, even those with their own PR arrangements.
“This is an important added value service from which our clients will benefit, and which we judge will be cost-effective for us as the insurer.”
Terence Fane-Saunders, Chelgate’s chairman and chief executive commented: “Business people today face new risks at almost every turn. Crises, claims, and consequent risks to reputation, are a stark reality in any organisation. Even in the best managed, things go wrong. But the real challenge to reputation lies in the way an organisation responds. We will help ensure that Hiscox clients meet any challenge of this kind in the best and most effective way possible.”
Ends
Further information:
Hiscox Insurance Co Ltd
Marion Chan 020 7448 6405 marion.chan@hiscox.com
Chelgate Limited
James Darley 020 7939 7939 jd@chelgate.com
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