The fast moving global political risk and terrorism, market is leaving businesses and insurers straining to ensure they remain ahead of the curve.

Delegates at the Airmic  annual conference in Birmingham were told there needs to be a collaborative approach from risk managers and from the insurance sector to ensure that they remain full covered as risks change.

Jonathan Rae, executive director of crisis management at Gallagher said the threats were growing as technology created new ways for information and disinformation to be spread globally and this created threats quite apart from the political risks which have seen conflicts erupt across the world.

In March this year president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said the organisation count more than 130 armed conflicts worldwide. This is twice as many as 15 years ago and almost four times as many as 30 years ago.

Rae added: “You can see the situation every day when you turn on the news. We have regional wars underway and the climate and global warming is impacting the energy market, creating a food crisis and with it new risks around conflict and security.”

There is a pandemic of political violence.

“Technology is spreading information and disinformation ever more rapidly. A movement can start in one country and quickly spread across the world. In the past that would be a slow process. We see easy access to materials which can radicalise readily available, and it can created terrorism, civil disturbance war, kidnappings and attacks in the workspace.”

Rae added: “risk managers they need to collaborate with their peers in their locality, and seek external help, including brokers and the use if threat analysis for new territories if there are plans to expand your footprint.”

“You need to look at safe travel policies for staff and contractors which are travelling on behalf of the business. I would go so far to say you need to think about your staff and where they are planning to track for holidays. There are parts of the world which have traditionally been seen as popular destinations, such as Dubai are now more risky.”

He added the conflict in the Middle East and the damage to property has highlighted the gaps in cover.

“As we have seen in the Middle east businesses have suffered property damage and have sought to claim on their terrorism policy only to find that the wording is such that claims are denied as they are war risks. It is very difficult when you have state backed proxies which are attacking property. It is where there needs to be a clarity in wording. IT is something we are working with our clients to ensure they understand their coverages.”

“Political violence  insurance in very much a collaboration between the brokers and the insurer to develop the product,” he explained. “The products are rarely created in isolation. We are working with insurers to provide a product which is as complete and effective as possible.”