Liberty International

Liberty International provides insurance products and services through two distinct approaches:

Liberty International Holdings’ country operations sell property, casualty, health and life insurance products to individuals and businesses in Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Private passenger automobile insurance is the single largest line of business.

Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) writes casualty, specialty casualty, marine, energy, construction, aviation, property, crisis management and trade credit coverages and other specialty programs through offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and Latin America. LIU, through its Lloyd’ s Syndicate 4472, also provides multiline insurance and reinsurance worldwide.

Liberty International continued its impressive record of profitable growth in 2011 despite the uncertain world economic environment. Today, nine of its 14 country operations, which sell both personal and commercial lines, rank in the top ten in their industry, and its specialty commercial business, Liberty International Underwriters (LIU), continues to innovate, prosper and grow.

A particular point of pride was the response of country operation LMG Insurance in Thailand to that nation’s devastating floods, which impacted 65 of that country’s 77 provinces. In addition to responding to the needs of its customers and employees, many of whom had to evacuate their homes, the company distributed 8,000 relief packages to flood victims. LIU also assisted with local efforts in Thailand, and in response to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, flooding in Australia, and the earthquake in New Zealand, with major financial support via reinsurance.

Other highlights from Liberty International’s country operations include the association of Liberty Seguros (Brazil) with the 2014 FIFA World Cup as a national supporter and exclusive insurance provider, the opening of a branch in Guangdong, China, the country’s largest property and casualty insurance market, and the acquisition of an insurer in Ireland.

Ever since its launch in 1999 as a specialty lines company, LIU has continued to launch unique niche products, including cyber liability, through its 49 offices worldwide.

Significant LIU achievements in 2011 include: LIU Europe’s push into the mid-market commercial sector in the United Kingdom with new offices in Birmingham, Leeds and London; LIU Asia Pacific’s initiative to position itself as a provider of choice for infrastructure and construction projects; LIU U.S.’s expansion into excess and surplus lines property, and the relaunching of its marine offering; and Liberty Syndicates trading in agricultural reinsurance, marine and specialty motor segments.

Looking ahead, Liberty International intends to continue to expand its presence around the world and capture an appropriate share of the global specialty lines and reinsurance business as well as emerging property and casualty insurance business.

Response

"We Were All In This Together."

From July 2011 to mid-January 2012, the worst flooding in a millennium struck Thailand, home of Liberty International’s country operation, LMG Insurance. One-third of the nation’s provinces were declared disaster areas, with the flooding impacting more than 13 million people, 3.3 million homes and 100,000 vehicles.

LMG Insurance’s response was to help not only its customers and employees, but the community at large.

“We had three branches flooded and more than 100 employees forced to evacuate their homes but, as a personal lines insurer, we couldn’t just ignore the needs of our customers while we tended to our own,” said LMG Insurance President John Fu.

Not only did LMG Insurance find temporary housing for its employees, it ran its call center at full throttle. The company responded to thousands of auto and property claims, deployed a team of adjusters with catastrophe experience and proactively called customers in the flood zone to arrange towing.

And it didn’t stop there. LMG Insurance employees volunteered to assemble and deliver 8,000 relief packages to flood victims in six communities. “It was the least we could do,” Fu said. “We were all in this together.”

Ability

Protecting Intangible Assets

Protection against privacy intrusion and computer hacking continues to emerge as something companies big and small can’t afford to ignore.

Responding to this threat, Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) Europe and, more recently, LIU U.S. introduced cyber and privacy products covering everything from loss or damage to digital assets to business interruption, privacy liability and reputational risk.

“Data security can mean anything from minor intrusions on a company’s email to a full-scale, denial-of-service attack that cripples a company,” said Matthew Hogg, who heads up LIU Europe’s Strategic Assets Division.

And, he said, it’s no longer just an IT issue as “more and more companies seek data security insurance to help protect their operations.”

Hogg and his team work closely with niche brokers who specialize in cyber risk in the London market and beyond.

“Innovation in cyber liability is critical, because each day brings new ways of attacking business, and it’s an area of ever-increasing regulatory focus as well,” Hogg said.

“As the attacks evolve and data breaches continue to make headlines, we’ll be there with innovative products to meet the increased demand.”