U.S. firms rely on worldwide U.S. D&O policies to provide global coverage.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS INSURANCE

A mere 3 percent of the 2,927 participants in a recent survey with international operations have purchased separate directors and officers liability insurance policies for other individual countries; 43 percent of the participants indicated that their firms are global.

This finding is from the 2007 Survey on Insurance Purchase and Claims Trends, conducted by global professional services firm Towers Perrin.

Global D&O coverage has become a recent emerging issue as a result of increased claim activity outside the U.S. and changing corporate laws in many countries that now permit derivative and share holder lawsuits. In addition, legal changes have expanded the responsibilities of many directors.

"Many countries do not permit nonadmitted D&O insurance policies to cover local directors and officers," says Michael Turk, a Towers Perrin senior consultant. In these countries, he adds, "The non-admitted worldwide U.S. D&O policy is not permitted to pay claims, regardless of the policy language."

As a result, the worldwide U.S. D&O policy does not provide the global...