Insurers are planning to introduce a new product next year to help companies limit the financial fallout when their brands or high-profile spokespeople such as Tiger Woods suffer reputational damage.
DeWitt Stern, a 110-year-old US insurance broker, has already received expressions of interest from London underwriters about backing a reputational risk product it aims to launch early in 2010.
Scott Brady, DeWitt Stern managing director, told the Financial Times that the product could develop into something akin to directors and officers liability insurance, designed to protect companies from shareholder lawsuits. Over 30 years, “D&O” cover had grown into a multi-billion dollar market, he said.