In this episode, Eddie Kurshumlija, Crisis Management, Product Recall, and Kidnap & Ransom Director at Gallagher Specialty, and Adam Carrier, Head of Consulting at AnotherDay, a Gallagher company, discuss kidnap and ransom insurance, global hotspots, and the conditions that allow K&R threats to thrive. They explore this specialised insurance line and the complex intersection of geopolitics, crisis management, and criminal activity in high-risk territories.

Key Discussion Points

• K&R insurance fundamentals: How these policies protect individuals and businesses against kidnap, extortion, wrongful detention, and hijack, covering everything from ransom payments to consultancy costs, legal liability, and psychiatric support.
• The critical role of response consultants: Why access to specialists with military and intelligence backgrounds can be of vital importance, and how they manage strategy on the ground.
• Policy coverage and extensions: The evolution from core protections to additional triggers including threat response, disappearances, express kidnap, emergency evacuation, hostage events, and assault expenses.
• Global hotspots for K&R activity: Why Syria, Nigeria, Myanmar, and Haiti lead in abduction cases, and how civil unrest, weak rule of law, and organised crime create fertile ground for kidnapping.
• Sanctions and territorial boundaries: Understanding where coverage ends when dealing with sanctioned territories, persons, or prescribed terrorist organisations, and how governments typically intervene in those scenarios.
• Risk profiles and targeting patterns: How criminal groups select victims differently across regions, from affluent locals in Mexico to foreign nationals in parts of Africa, and the role of community engagement in prevention.
• Workplace violence legislation: New US state-level protections requiring companies to demonstrate duty of care to employees, expanding the relevance of K&R policies beyond international travel.