With SAI Libera Professione we are launching one of the very first policies within the Insurance Solutions Sector that has been entirely devised and constructed in EURO. The whole structure of the contract and all its components – booklet, policy form, regulatory appendixes, rates –have been designed and accomplished in the new currency. This will be a real practical test, a forerunner, both for our Clients and for all of us insiders.
The policy has been devised and designed by taking into due consideration the experience gained with its precursor, SAI Professione, as well as the new aspects that have emerged in the current legislative setting. This has led to the creation of an entirely new product in terms of content, which can meet in the best possible way all the new insurance requirements of professional categories. Let us, first of all, have a look at the main features, both technical and commercial, of this policy, to highlight the most innovatory aspects, which represent its actual strengths. In the first place, its contract structure has been diversified so as to fall into three large areas (each one having its own specific policy booklet), corresponding to three different market sub-segments: indeed, although freelance professionals represent in many ways an homogenous category, they are in fact strongly diversified depending on the profession they practise. In this way, we have decided to take into account, in line with an advanced marketing approach, the various requirements and needs of each group, in order to design tailored insurance coverages and make the product more attractive.
The three areas are:
1) Liberal activities, including: - Business consultants, commercial assessors, qualified accountants - Notaries - Lawyers - Labour consultants - Managers of residential buildings
2) Technical activities, including: - Engineers, architects, building surveyors, master contractors - Geologists, agronomists, land surveyors, agrotechnicians (these are new categories)
3) Healthcare activities, including: - Medical practitioners. In view of the strong diversification within this category, with consequent differences in terms of risk rate, we have worked out a careful subdivision of the activities practised (e.g.: general practitioner, non-surgeon specialist, emergency medicine specialist, aesthetic medicine specialist, specialist with invasive operations, surgeon, gynaecologist, anaesthetist, medical examiner). - Dentists - Veterinaries - Biologists - Psychologist (new category) - Dental mechanics and opticians (new category) - Healthcare operators and technicians (obstetricians, nurses, physiotherapists, etc.) (new category)
Each category has a basic third-party liability coverage, relating to typical risks associated with the practise of the standard activities involved by their profession, which can be integrated by broadening the coverage to various degrees, so as to customize the insurance based on the specific requirements of the professional. For instance, for business consultants and accountants, the policy also provides for coverage of activities such those carried out as company auditor or auditor, for fiscal certification and as person in charge of creditor protection insolvency proceedings; all particularly risky activities, owing to their strong specialisation and to the objectively severe consequences which may take place in the event of mistakes or faults in the work accomplished. For medical practitioners, the policy also provides for a coverage of the liabilities arising from serious negligence and recourse by the Health Unit, with the possibility of extending it to cover aesthetic damages suffered by patients during surgery, or from the activity within on-duty medical units and/or first-aid stations; for veterinaries the coverage may be extended to health surveillance and inspection activities, and so on. For the Technical Area, the policy includes coverage for designers’ liabilities arising in the event of failure to comply with town planning obligations or workplace safety obligations (ref.: law 626/94; law 494/96). A very interesting cover, which is shared by the tree sectors, relates to the professional liabilities involved in the handling/use of personal and sensitive data (ref.: so-called Privacy Law).
The policy also provides for further, very important coverages, such as:
a) Legal Expenses Insurance, with complete reimbursement of legal and appraisement expenses in the event of controversies concerning the professional activity.
b) Material damages to the office caused by fire, explosion, blast, water emission or vandalism. A special coverage is offered for computer equipment, which is now employed by all professionals, whatever the size of their business may be. The cover includes damages suffered by electric or electronic equipment, such as computers, faxes or answering machines, as well as storage mediums containing file data.
c) Theft and robbery (office equipment, particularly important documents, valuable articles, money and negotiable instrument kept in the office).
d) Total coverage: this provides for predetermined insurance services within the area or legal expenses, theft and electric/electronic equipment failure, all under a single competitive premium.
For potential clients, this product represents an excellent way of securing the presence of a highly experienced insurance partner in their professional activity; especially in today’s society, where category safety requirements are daily increased by recurring legal obligations, with the allocation of new tasks and functions.
Area segmentation, the possibility of extending covers, the high limits of liability, the retroactive effect of third-party liability coverages, the possibility of holding down overall costs by opting for franchises or non-cover clauses, all represent strengths to be emphasised during negotiation. It is obvious that for agents the new SAI Libera Professione policy represents a very valuable operating tool, in that:
- Modularity makes it possible to offer to specific and homogeneous market segments a tailored product offering a personal choice as to the cover combination which best meets the requirements of the individual professional;
- Price flexibility allows to offer a product which is only paid for the parts that the professional will be actually using;
- The clarity of the explanatory booklet makes it possible to explain the policy content in a simple and clear manner;
- The SAI retention has been increased, thus reducing the resort to co-insurance, with obvious advantages for the agency network.
The new policy will become available during the summer season.
(trad. Interpres sas Giussano)
R.P.
