Recognise the risk
 

• Insuring everything centrally from Belgium sounds simple, but in certain countries this is regarded as evading local insurance tax.
• When you insure specific countries from Belgium, you must in some cases hand over more than half of a claim payment to the local tax authorities!
• Assuming that “it will be fine” is the most expensive assumption an international entrepreneur can make.
• Have a claim in Spain handled by someone who speaks the local language, knows the local legislation and is present on site — not from an office in Belgium.
• Some countries have specific insurance requirements that must be taken out locally. A Belgian policy is simply not recognised there.
   

The solution?

An international insurance programme, tailored to your company and compliant with local regulations in every country where you are active.

What to pay attention to per country:
 

1. In which countries is the company established and what are its activities?
    
2. What kind of country is it (in insurance terms):
   • An EU country (Freedom of Service, which means you may insure from Belgium).
   • A country outside the EU that you may insure from Belgium (Non Admitted).
     Some countries allow this system.
   • A country outside the EU that you may only insure locally (Admitted).
     In such a country it is therefore required that the insurance is taken out exclusively locally.
      
3. Are there mandatory insurances in that country that must be taken out locally?
    
4. Are there insurances that may be required by local customers?
    
5. Are there specific insurances that are better taken out locally than from Belgium?

This analysis forms the backbone of your international insurance programme.

1. Choose what you want to insure:
   • Liability insurance is usually a priority.
     (both for product liability and for professional liability)
   • Cyber insurance
     (increasingly relevant and increasingly imposed contractually)
   • Fire insurance
     (for your local office, your factory or even your rented premises)
   • Transport insurance
     (for international flows of goods)
   • Travel and accident insurance
     (for you or your employees on a business trip, international trade fair or team building)
   • Credit insurance
     (even more important for international trade receivables)
   • ...
     
     Make sure to properly analyse the risks you run and which ones you want to limit.
      
2. Your insurance broker helps you determine:
   • The content of the policies
   • Insured amounts of the master policy
   • Which countries require a local policy
   • Clauses
   • Coverages linked to local policies

The goal is a coherent programme without gaps in coverage.

1. Implement
   • Essential: choose a broker and an insurer with an international network.
      
2. Coordinate
   • The broker at the head office coordinates the necessary communication and instructions.
      
3. Communicate
   • The broker at the head office communicates with its local partners:
     • The content of the international programme;
     • What the assignment is regarding the local insurance;
     • Who the client’s local contact person is.
        
   • Meanwhile, the parent company informs its subsidiary/subsidiaries:
     • that an integrated approach has been chosen;
     • that they must cooperate with the local partner of the parent’s adviser;
     • who will make contact and what the assignment is.
        
   • The insurer(s) communicate with the local insurers involved:
     • they indicate that local insurance will be taken out;
     • they provide the local details of the subsidiaries and the local broker involved.
        
   • Finally, the local insurance broker makes contact with the local company.

Good communication prevents subsidiaries from taking out their own, overlapping or conflicting policies — which is both expensive and legally risky.

What a good overview gives you:

The head office knows at all times what is insured in each country, at which premium and through which insurer.

Subsidiaries know exactly what the parent has arranged for them and what they themselves need to insure additionally.

Concretely, you gain insight into:

• the total premium per country and per insurance branch;
• the cost of employee benefits per employee;
• a claims overview per line of business and per country.
  
  This data is not only useful for your risk management — it also helps you with budget planning, audit preparation and reporting to shareholders or a parent company abroad.

With this overview in hand, you are no longer managing international risks reactively, but proactively.

Ready for this approach?
Contact us today

to help you with a personal approach: Info@internationaalverzekeren.be