Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty expands crisis management team with experts on terrorism insurance

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), the corporate insurer of the Allianz Group, provides stand-alone terrorism cover for international companies' overseas risks. Two new experts will develop and expand insurance products in this area: Björn Reußwig, Executive Underwriter Terrorism, is responsible for underwriting European terror risks and coordinates activities in this field globally. Srdjan Todorovic is Head of Terrorism Regional Unit London, responsible for UK, Ireland, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. AGCS plans to increase underwriting capacity for terrorism insurance in the USA and Singapore over the course of the year.

Reußwig and Todorovic report to Christof Bentele, Head of Global Crisis Management at AGCS. Since the start of 2015 Bentele has been expanding the Crisis Management department within the Global Liability line of AGCS, bundling activities relating to political risks, terrorism and political violence or product recall and contamination.

With immediate effect, AGCS will be able to offer industrial customers stand-alone cover against terrorism and political unrest for their overseas locations. Global risks are excluded from national pool solutions, such as Extremus in Germany or Gareat in France. "Whether unrest, terrorism or war: political violence has returned to companies' risk maps over the past few years with unimaginable force. Companies want to better protect their employees, their business, and their assets. Our new products and our global network allow us to safeguard our customers against the effects of politically motivated violence in almost all countries around the world," explains Michael Hohmann, Global Head of Liability, AGCS.  

AGCS' terrorism insurance not only covers terrorism: it also protects against civil commotion ("strike, riot and civil commotion") even for politically unstable countries, which are often excluded in policies. Additionally, protection against political violence such as war or civil war, can be added as a optional cover component. "In the past it was often the case that in specific instances it couldn't be clarified whether it was a question of terrorism, or civil war, or even war. In order to avoid insurers pinning the responsibility on each other, a company should bundle all of these risks into one policy," recommends Bentele.

Björn Reußwig (37) works at AGCS in Munich and is responsible for terrorism insurance within Europe and coordinates activities in this area globally. He worked as an underwriter for terrorism and political violence at Catlin Europe SE from 2005 to 2015, taking on various roles in Cologne, Munich and London. Prior to joining AGCS he was employed by Catlin as a Senior Underwriter and was Line Manager for Terrorism & Special Risk for Mainland Europe. Reußwig, who is a certified insurance clerk in Germany and also a Fellow of the "Chartered Insurance Institute" in London, graduated in Insurance at Cologne's university of applied sciences.

Srdjan Todorovic (32) moved to AGCS' London office, and is responsible for terrorism insurance in UK, Ireland, the Middle East,Australia and New Zealand. Ian Humphries works alongside him as an Underwriting Assistant. Todorovic joined Catlin in London as an underwriter in 2007 starting in the Credit Insurance department before moving to Terrorism and Political Violence. In 2010 he had a secondment to Singapore where he serviced the local terrorism account. Srdjan has a Politics degree from the University of Nottingham and is ACII qualified.

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is a leading global corporate insurance carrier and a key business unit of Allianz Group. AGCS provides risk consultancy, Property-Casualty insurance solutions and alternative risk transfer for a wide spectrum of commercial, corporate and specialty risks across 12 dedicated lines of business.

Our customers are as diverse as business can be, ranging from Fortune Global 500 companies to small businesses, and private individuals. Among them are the world’s largest consumer brands, tech companies and the global aviation and shipping industry, but also wineries, satellite operators or Hollywood film actors. They all look to AGCS for smart answers to their largest and most complex risks in a dynamic, multinational business environment and trust us to deliver an outstanding claims experience.

We constantly strive to deliver the best for our customers through our global team of around 4,400 employees from over 70 nationalities in 34 countries worldwide. As the one of the largest Property-Casualty units of Allianz Group, we are backed by strong and stable financial strength ratings and a global network in over 200 countries and territories. In 2018, AGCS generated a total of €8.2 billion gross premium worldwide.