International Insurance Programs - Legal Frictions and Solutions

Martin Strnad, Head Legal Global Corporate, Zurich Insurance Company

Risk transfer from multinational corporations to global insurance underwriters, together with associated servicing needs, are sometimes in discord with long standing regulatory insurance rules and tax requirements. Yet the Globalisation of markets requires underwriters to insure exposures worldwide. This article outlines a few of the legal challenges global insurance programs are faced with and touches upon some traditional and some new solutions generally applicable in the different countries where such business is produced. As such, this article is not an analysis under UK law but looks at some of the issues associated with program business by reference to a number of different jurisdictions.