Broker McGill and Partners has launched a war risk reinsurance program for commercial properties in Ukraine. This is the first such program since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
Ukrainian companies have had difficulty obtaining insurance since the start of the war because Western reinsurers, who insure insurers, have placed exclusions on the country.
McGill said it has worked with local Ukrainian insurer ARX to provide coverage of up to $50 million for each commercial property policy, with reinsurance from London companies including Lloyd’s of London syndicates .
FortuneGuard, an insurance technology company, will use official data on projectiles fired in Ukraine to assess the likelihood of war damage. Cover will be available for properties located more than 100 km from the front line, McGill said in a statement.
Hamish Greenwood, head of crisis management at McGill, said the broker had been working on setting up the program for several months.
-“We never thought a blanket exclusion of all of Ukraine was right, because the risk in the west is not the same as in the east,” Mr Greenwood said. Seven London companies have already agreed to offer cover under the scheme, Mr Greenwood added.
Multilateral organizations, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the US International Development Finance Corporation, have already stepped in to support Ukraine war insurance for goods and vehicles in transit, as well as to health care and agriculture, respectively.
Broker Marsh offers an insurance program for cargo transportation in the Black Sea corridor, with the support of Ukrainian state banks.
