Property & Casualty Insurance

Most Property All Risks policies are designed to cover physical loss or damage to your business property, including buildings, machinery, stock and equipment, from causes that aren’t specifically excluded, rather than only from a named list of perils like fire or flood. This “all risks” structure is generally broader than a named perils policy, though the exact scope, and the exclusions that apply, depend entirely on the wording of the specific policy placed, so this description shouldn’t be read as covering every policy in the same way.

Your sum insured should reflect the full reinstatement cost of your property, meaning what it would actually cost to rebuild or replace it today, not its market value or depreciated book value. Many property policies include an average clause, which can reduce your claim payout proportionately if the declared sum insured falls short of the true reinstatement cost, even where the loss itself isn’t in dispute. Whether an average clause applies, and exactly how it’s calculated, depends on your specific policy wording, so it’s worth confirming this with us directly.

Not automatically. Property All Risks and Business Interruption are typically arranged as separate sections or separate policies. Business Interruption cover needs to be arranged specifically if you want protection against lost income and ongoing costs while your premises are being repaired.

Notify us and, where relevant, the fire and rescue authorities as soon as possible, and photograph or video the damage before any cleanup begins. Early evidence and prompt notification make it considerably easier for a loss adjuster to assess the cause and extent of damage without ambiguity later, and most policies also require you to notify your insurer promptly as a condition of cover.

At the very least at every renewal, and sooner if you’ve renovated, expanded or acquired new machinery. Reinstatement costs shift with construction and equipment prices, so a sum insured that was accurate a couple of years ago may already be understated.

It’s typically designed to cover the loss of income and the increased costs of working that follow physical damage to your property, for as long as it takes to get your business back to where it would have been. This is different from Property insurance, which covers the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged asset itself.

In most standard policies, yes. Business Interruption cover is usually triggered by damage to your own property, or in some cases damage at a supplier’s or customer’s premises if you’ve specifically added that extension. Losses unrelated to physical damage, such as a general economic downturn, aren’t typically covered.

The indemnity period is the maximum length of time the policy will pay out for, and it needs to reflect how long it would realistically take your business to fully recover; not just how long repairs take. If your indemnity period is set too short, you can exhaust your cover before your income has actually returned to normal.

Only if you’ve arranged “dependency” or “contingent” business interruption cover, which extends protection to damage at a named supplier, customer or other third-party premises your business depends on. This isn’t automatic in most policies and needs to be specifically discussed and added.

Typically, your historical financial records, such as management accounts and past turnover figures, so the insurer or loss adjuster can establish what your business would likely have earned had the interruption not occurred. Having clean, up-to-date financials ready in advance generally makes this process faster.

In the Singapore market, the two are often bundled into a single policy. General Liability typically responds to claims arising from your products, operations or premises, while Public Liability specifically covers third-party bodily injury or property damage arising from your business activities, such as a visitor being injured on your premises. The exact split, and what each term means, depends on how your particular policy is structured.

This depends on your industry, the nature of your operations and the contracts you hold, since some landlords, clients or principals will specify a minimum limit in their agreements with you. A limit that was set some years ago may no longer reflect the potential cost of a serious third-party injury or property damage claim today, so it’s worth reviewing your limit periodically with us rather than assuming an older figure is still adequate.

Generally, yes, provided the incident arises from your business operations, such as work carried out at a client’s site. The specifics depend on your policy wording, so it’s worth confirming this if a large share of your work happens away from your own premises.

Notify us as soon as you’re aware of an incident that could give rise to a claim, even if no formal claim has been made yet. Early notification lets us and the insurer start gathering evidence and, where needed, appoint legal representation before a dispute escalates, and prompt notification is typically also a condition of the policy itself.

Not always. Liability assumed under a contract, sometimes called “contractual liability,” can go beyond what you’d be liable for under general law, and standard policies don’t always pick this up automatically. It’s worth having contracts reviewed against your policy wording before you sign them.