Crown Jewel, Chaucer partner for industry first

Chaucer will provide lead underwriting capacity for the program, which will be brokered by Acrisure London Wholesale.

Crown Jewel offers a full trade secret and risk management product, Crown Jewel Protector. As part of the underwriting process, Crown Jewel Protector identifies, values, and offers recommendations on how a company can protect its trade secrets.

Trade secrets can be threatened by industrial espionage or disclosure by a disgruntled employee or trusted insider. Trade secrets are also increasingly at risk from cyberattacks, the companies said.

Should trade secrets be stolen, Crown Jewel will supply forensic and legal experts to determine how the theft occurred, gather evidence of any misappropriation of trade secrets, and pursue recovery of the asset, injunctive relief, or both. Under the insurance policy, the pre-agreed fair market value of the trade secret will be paid should a loss of income or market share result from the misappropriation of the insured’s trade secret.

Trade secrets account for a sizable proportion of the value of most modern businesses, Crown Jewel said. An estimated 90% of the value of S&P 500 companies is intangible assets – of which only 15% are protected by patents or trademarks. That means that of the S&P 500’s $32.1 trillion market capitalization, $24.6 trillion is made up of unprotected intangibles such as trade secrets.

Trade secrets include things like proprietary algorithms, designs, software code, formulas, and unique workflows and industrial processes, according to Crown Jewel.

“The launch of this product is the result of a multi-year passion project that should allow for trade secret protection ecosystem to develop, including not only insurance protection for a company’s most unique know-how, but the monetization of those assets that will allow lenders and investors to support and fund innovation with a backstop that was not available until now,” said Mary Guzman, founder and CEO of Crown Jewel. “Chaucer’s deep expertise in the market will be a valuable resource for Crown Jewel as we launch this groundbreaking solution.”

Read next: Chaucer marks centenary year

“Prior to the launch of this product there was no insurance available for businesses’ trade secrets, leaving the vast majority of their value unprotected,” said Hayley Maynard, head of innovation at Chaucer. “Crown Jewel Protector provides significant additional peace of mind for businesses that their most valuable secrets are secure.”

“Chaucer is delighted to partner with Crown Jewel in this insurance industry first,” said Zak Mallen, US reinsurance underwriter at Chaucer. “Crown Jewel Protector fills a real gap in the market, which we are confident will be highly sought after by listed companies and mid-market enterprises alike. This will be a huge benefit for all businesses, but for those who would not be able to afford litigation should their trade secrets be misappropriated, it has the potential to be transformational.”

“Acrisure London Wholesale is proud to have sourced the capacity for this first-of-its-kind, innovative product, addressing an important commercial exposure which until now has gone uninsured,” said Tom Quy, senior vice president at Acrisure London Wholesale.

Have something to say about this story? Let us know in the comments below.