Hartford unveils credit, political risk policies

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said Thursday it is introducing credit and political risk insurance policies designed to help policyholders with international exposures manage their credit and political risk.

The credit insurance provides nonpayment coverage on trade and export finance exposures, the insurer said.

It said the coverage can provide the capacity their policyholders demand without requiring a syndication of the risk to their competitors, manage overall counter-party and country aggregates, and achieve regulatory capital relief for the exposure they insure.

The political risk insurance protects policyholders’ investments against various political risks such as expropriation, political violence and currency incontrovertibility, Hartford said.

It said its coverage can assist with mobile assets such as oil equipment that needs to be in a foreign country for a finite period of time, investments in manufacturing facilities globally where clients have committed significant capital and have become dependent on to produce the goods they export, and infrastructure investments to which private equity firms have committed large amounts of investments for a long period of time.

Hartford said in addition to its political risk and credit insurance underwriters it also has a country, credit and economic research team to help clients understand the geopolitical landscape.