Dateline: 05/10/1998
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., NEW YORK and BALTIMORE, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Zurich- American's Specialties operation (New York) and Zurich Commercial's Construction operation (Baltimore) have joined forces to create Zurich Rail Solutions, a new liability and property coverage and service package for railroad contractors.
"We knew our railroad customers needed a total account underwriting program, and that's what we created for them,'' noted John Amore, president of Zurich-American's Specialties (ZAS) strategic business unit. He added, "We think it's a first for the railroad industry.''
Lynn Cordes, president of Zurich Commercial's Construction strategic business unit, pointed out, ``Railroad contractors and suppliers now have one place to go for primary and excess insurance, for claims services, and engineering/loss control services. We believe it represents the real power of the Zurich organization.''
Zurich Rail Solutions consists of a far-ranging package of coverages including:
- workers compensation and employers liability with limits up to $1 million/$1 million/$1 million
- comprehensive general liability with $1-$25 million limits and matching aggregate auto liability and physical damage, primary and excess
- umbrella and excess liability with a $25 million one time occurrence and aggregates where applicable
- railroad protective liability on occurrence and claims made forms and basic $2 million limits
- real and personal property insurance at 100 percent replacement cost
- contractors equipment coverage, including leased equipment
- installation floater with hoisting and rigging included, and no exclusion for mechanical breakdown or electrical disturbance
- boiler and machinery with several options available
- contamination and pollution liability
- contractors professional liability including E&O for contractors, owners, and architect engineers
- employment practices liability with stand alone primary or excess, claims made
Bob Keller, vice president of railroad business at Zurich-American, will direct all aspects of Zurich Rail Solutions. Mark Soisson, assistant vice president of product density in the ZC Construction unit, helped create Zurich Rail Solutions through the Zurich collaboration.
Tom Meyer, underwriting specialist at Zurich Commercial, and Bob Fellerath, ARM, account executive at Zurich-American, will manage the program. Mr. Fellerath recently joined Zurich for this assignment after previously serving as vice president of risk management with Statutory Benefits Management Corporation.
For more information about Zurich Rail Solutions, readers should contact Bob Fellerath at 410-229-5186 or Tom Meyer at 410-527-3666.
Zurich-American and Zurich Commercial are members of the Zurich Financial Services Group, one of the global leaders in the financial services industry. Providing its customers with products and solutions in the area of financial protection and asset accumulation, Zurich Financial Services concentrates its activities in four core businesses: non-life and life insurance, reinsurance and asset management.
Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, Zurich Financial Services' worldwide presence builds on strong positions in its three home markets: the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. (It is the largest Swiss based insurance group, the third largest non-life insurer in the UK, and the third largest property and casualty writer in the US. The Group is one of the world's top 10 asset managers with some $375 billion in assets under management.)
With offices in close to 60 countries, Zurich Financial Services reaches over 30 million customers and employs more than 68,000 people.
Based on pro-forma consolidated figures for 1997, the Group achieved gross premiums of more than $44 billion. This amount includes insurance deposits as well as premiums from the Farmers Exchanges. The pro-forma net income for the year 1997 amounted to $2.1 billion. On December 31, 1997, the Zurich Financial Services Group had pro-forma $375 billion of assets under management of which $222 billion represent funds managed for third-party institutional and retail customers.