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Specialist insurer Hiscox has launched a new combined war, terrorism and political violence cover policy, aiming to attract the growing range of businesses operating in the often politically unstable emerging markets.

The all-in-one policy includes cover for acts of terrorism, riots, strikes and civil commotion, invasion, hostilities, rebellion, revolution, insurrection and war. Hiscox has also been working on the new policy in conjunction with the business risk consultancy firm Control Risks.

As part of the new policy offering, Hiscox clients also have the opportunity to use the services of Control Risks to ensure certain practical measures have been taken to avoid or at least mitigate the impact of certain risks. Services could include security audits, reviews, design and implementation of security policies and procedures, physical security measures and crisis management planning.

Says Jonny Gray, director, crisis and security consulting, EMEA at Control Risks: “The more prepared a business can be, the less impact incidents of terrorism or war will have on their clients or business.”

Talking at the launch in London, Stephen Ashwell, war, terrorism and political violence underwriter at Hiscox emphasised how this policy also benefits from Hiscox’s strengths in kidnap and ransom and personal accident cover.

The policy has been developed to reflect the growing ambiguity between the definitions of war, conflict, political violence and terrorism. Often companies will cover their emerging market operations with an individual terrorism policy, but in certain circumstances where there is a difference of opinion over what constitutes an act of terrorism, companies can find themselves uninsured.

“As an ‘all-in-one’ policy, this cover is designed to remove that uncertainty and allow businesses to operate, secure in the knowledge that their operations are protected,” explains Ashwell at Hiscox.

At the launch, Ashwell further outlined the growing need for this kind of combined policy, citing industry research that demonstrated that over the last year there has been significant terrorism cover capacity available, but fairly limited political violence capacity.