XL Catlin Bermuda launches new D&O policy amid M&A environment

XL Catlin’s professional lines insurance operations in Bermuda have launched a directors & officers (D&O) policy.

The D&O lead excess side A difference in conditions (DIC) policy was created by the firm to tackle various issues facing brokers and clients in the current mergers and acquisitions (M&A) environment.

“The current and anticipated wave of insurance company consolidations creates various issues for brokers and clients to consider under D&O insurance programmes,” said Matthew Irvine, XL Catlin’s Bermuda professional lines chief underwriting officer.

“For example, the aggregate capacity offered by a consolidated carrier may be less than the separate capacities offered by each of the carriers before the consolidation. In that case, new insurers will need to be added to programmes in which both of the consolidated carriers participated.

“Also, if the same consolidated carrier participates in both the underlying ABC program and the excess DIC programme, the quality of that carrier’s drop-down coverage is diluted because that carrier is insuring against its own wrongful refusal to pay or insolvency,” he said.

The side A DIC protection addresses these concerns as well as foreseeable changes in the D&O claims environment and D&O insurance market, according to Irvine.

The policy includes several coverage enhancements including reinstated limits, insured persons, pre-claim inquiry costs, discovery periods and new subsidiaries.