International Marketing Consultant - Four PI Declines, Multi-Product Placement

A marketing consultant contacted us needing Professional Indemnity insurance alongside Public Liability and Cyber cover. They advised clients on marketing platforms and CRM systems, purely advisory work with no integration or development involved.

The complicating factor was the revenue split. Around 40% of their income came from the Netherlands, with the remaining 60% from NSW-based clients. Their client base included FinTech and eCommerce businesses, which some insurers view as higher-risk industries even for pure advisory work.

They also needed cover to start the same day. The requirements were $1M PI, $5M PL, and $250K Cyber insurance.

An important detail we documented upfront: the consultant explicitly did not provide guidance on payment processing platforms. This distinction mattered for underwriting, as it removed a layer of financial services exposure from the risk profile.

We approached seven insurers for PI cover:

• Brooklyn: approximately $1,300
• Berkley: approximately $1,400
• Vero: approximately $1,500
• DUAL: declined (jurisdiction)
• AIG: declined (jurisdiction)
• QBE: declined (jurisdiction)
• Chubb: declined (jurisdiction)

For Cyber insurance, we compared four markets:

• Coalition: approximately $640
• AIG: approximately $1,060
• DUAL: approximately $1,200
• Chubb: approximately $1,260

We also arranged the $5M Public Liability cover as part of the full programme.

The international revenue was the primary barrier. Four of the seven PI insurers we approached declined purely on jurisdiction grounds. The Netherlands revenue, combined with FinTech and eCommerce client exposure, was enough to trigger automatic declines from DUAL, AIG, QBE, and Chubb.

This is a pattern we see with marketing consultants who work across borders. The advisory work itself might be low-risk, but international revenue introduces jurisdictional complexity that many domestic-focused insurers won't engage with.

The same-day deadline added pressure. There wasn't time to educate new underwriters on the risk or negotiate bespoke terms. We needed to go straight to markets we knew would be comfortable with international scopes, and we needed answers quickly.

We placed PI through Brooklyn at approximately $1,300. They were comfortable with the international revenue split and the FinTech client base where four other insurers weren't. Among the three willing PI markets, pricing was relatively tight, from roughly $1,300 to $1,500.

Cyber was placed through Coalition at approximately $640. The spread across four cyber insurers was nearly 2:1. Coalition at around $640 versus Chubb at approximately $1,260 for equivalent $250K cover. That's a meaningful difference for a consultancy watching costs.

The full programme, PI, PL, and Cyber, was bound on the same day the consultant contacted us.