World
Trade Centre - Market News Update
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27 Sept 2001 UK: US
Tragedy - News - Willis - WTC was covered As the broker responsible, Willis this week refuted press speculation that the absence of finalised policy wordings at the time of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center would in any way give grounds for the insurers involved to dispute their liabilities. Nicholas Jones, group communications director, referred to such reports as "very misleading", as cover had been renegotiated and bound on behalf of Willis' client, Silverstein Properties, prior to the real estate giant taking control of the twin towers this summer. "We bound insurance cover on behalf of Silverstein properties on 19 July, prior to Silverstein taking ownership on 23 July and in line with customary industry practice, we continued working with the markets involved to finalise the detailed policy language after that date." He added that Willis had gained authorisation from Silverstein last weekend to distribute the relevant policy documents to the interested parties. John Trotter, insurance team partner with
London law firm, Lovells, agreed that finalised wordings are only a
formalisation of contracts that already bind insurers once the 'slip' or
similar underwriting paper has been signed. Lloyd's is liable for $684m (£466m) of the property and business interruption cover, which equates to nearly 20% of the $3.55bn insured losses resulting from the destruction of the WTC. European insurers wrote the largest shares of the restructured programmes, with Swiss Re holding nearly 21% or $742m. Other major participants include: Allianz AG, which wrote $552m; Ace, with $298m; and Chubb, with $254m. The risk was spread among a total of 22 property insurers with 19 insurers underwriting a separate liability programme - of which Ace and Zurich wrote the largest shares of $200m and $154m respectively. (c) Copyright Timothy Benn Publishing
Limited 2001 Source: POST
MAGAZINE 27/09/2001 P2
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