As you’re aware, Coronavirus continues to dominate the news headlines, there’s a lot of genuine uncertainty out there but we remain focussed like many New Zealanders on getting through this period together. AibGROUP continues to monitor the situation with Government updates and other broad communication from Insurers. It remains a fluid situation and we will continue to maintain open lines of communication with you via your aibGROUP Broker and/or our office.
WHAT WE ARE DOING
As per recent Government announcements, many of our team are now working from home and our physical offices will be now be closed to general visitors until further notice. We, like all New Zealanders, will be managing our social distancing and will be postponing many face-to-face meetings to keep everyone safe. Our systems and technology allow us to remain completely functional and our team are available and ready to assist you via all of our existing means of communication.
For those clients with Business Insurance:
DOES CORONAVIRUS HAVE AN IMPACT ON MY BUSINESS INSURANCE?
I have attached some information with regards this and the historical nature with insurance, however here is a brief summary of the information attached:
- One of the standard exclusions under Material Damage and Business Interruption Policies (plus a number of other policies) is:
These policies do not cover financial loss or expense of any type in connection with a Notifiable Infectious Disease under the Health Act 1956 or notifiable disease under the Biosecurity Act 1993.
- Insurers and Reinsurers made a decision after theoutbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2013. They realised that if a major pandemic such as the Spanish Flu occurred again, there would be no insurance industry. They therefore introduced a clause, which excludes any disease that is notifiable under the Health Act 1956 and/ or the Biosecurity Act 1993.
- As of the end of January 2020, Coronavirus is a listed disease and so these policy exclusions will take effect. This means that regrettably there is no insurance protection for disruptions to business arising from Coronavirus.
Please carefully read the attached information and if you have any questions please let us know.
OTHER FINANCIAL SUPPORT
We have attached some factsheets (Covid-19 Leave support and Wage subsidy scheme) detailing the current Government Support package that you may find helpful.
We will continue to provide you with updates via www.aibgroup.co.nz.
Take care
The AibGROUP Team
