Directors and officers of a private company can be held personally liable for the decisions they make. Any director or officer of a private company that is not provided D&O coverage is playing a dangerous game risking his own personal assets (including his/her spouse's assets). Is your company’s board of directors comfortable with their level of personal risk?

Private held firms often underestimate their D&O liabilities. Being private does not mean that the decisions of your board are immune from public scrutiny. While D&O coverage is critical for public companies because of their large shareholder base; most lawsuits don't come from shareholders, but from creditors, competitors, government bodies and employees. In fact employee related litigation represents the majority of D&O related claims. This makes comprehensive D&O insurance essential in this litigious business environment. Further, in some cases private companies must have D&O coverage in order to keep or attract high profile board members.

If a company cannot indemnify its directors, officers or employees, either because of the allegations of a lawsuit or as a result of the company’s insolvency, then this financial burden can become the personal responsibility of the company’s directors, officers or employees.

D&O liability insurance coverage for private companies have undergone drastic changes recently. Insurance carriers are raising premiums and tightening coverage in response to the flood of lawsuits, losses from the overall decline of the stock market, the tragedy of 9/11 and corporate scandals. The continued volatility of the stock market could lead to an increase in claims against executives. The result is increased rates and more exclusions for D&O liability insurance policies.

This makes it harder for you to secure appropriate D&O liability insurance coverage — not only at the right price — but also a D&O coverage that offers security both to your business assets and also your personal assets which are at risk. That's why you need someone that specializes in insuring medium-large companies and has access to the whole D&O insurance market.

With over 100 years of experience, InsurePro - a division of Gaston & Associates, has access to the whole D&O liability insurance market including surplus lines and London syndicates. This means that we can often negotiate a D&O liability insurance policy that offers extended coverage at a very competitive price.

The driving goals of InsurePro’s marketing effort are to secure quotations that are more cost competitive, and to evaluate the structure of any existing Directors and Officers (D&O) coverage.

The company’s success and the return on investment has a direct impact on the personal wealth of its owners, employees and shareholders, who are sometimes one in the same. InsurePro understands your needs and can help you secure D&O Liability Coverage at a competitive rate.

There can be a mismatch between the professional training of the broker who negotiate D&O policies and that of the insurance company. We keep seeing this over and over again - incompetent or generalist brokers handling D&O policies for clients. The end result is that you don't get the Directors and Officers Liability coverage that you need and not at the price that should. People does not know that D&O policy terms can be negotiated and that's why you need somebody that has the right experience and can formulate a matrix what coverage and limits that are appropriate for your business.

InsurePro specializes in D&O insurance and we have long experience insuring both private and public companies.

The high level of customer service continues after implementation of your policy. A pro-active team of professionals will conduct phone “check-ups” periodically and work with you in advance of your renewal each year to ensure your solution remains competitive.

There are several factors influencing the pricing:

	The insurance market has hardened in the last couple of years. We are frequently encountering higher D&O liability insurance pricing across the board on renewal.
	Many insurance companies have withdrawn from the D&O liability insurance market and are declining to provide D&O coverage, at least temporarily. This makes it even more challenging to secure quotations and coverage as the lack of availability of carriers adversely affects D&O pricing.

The collapse of Enron, the increase in the severity and frequency of D&O losses, reduced capacity in the D&O market and the attack on the WTC has accelerated the hardening of the insurance market. The result of the hardening of D&O liability insurance market is not only increased costs but also changes to the D&O policy terms and conditions.

Overall, market observers expect Directors and Officers premiums to rise over the next couple of years by an average of 20-30% - with even higher increases for certain industries.

It is now more common to write EPL on the same policy as the D&O liability insurance. While this practice might offer some savings in the short term, one should consider that the EPL exposure for the entity might be quite significant and a large claim can quickly erode the D&O coverage that is available.

InsurePro generally recommend securing EPLI coverage through a stand-alone EPLI policy, rather than by an endorsement to an insurance D&O policy. This avoids having EPL claims erode the protection available for directors and officers under their D&O policy. Sure the cost will be higher and this set up might be unnecessary for many businesses. Factors specific to your industry or your business might influence whether or not having the EPL on the same policy as the D&O makes sense.