A smarter way to manage multinational risk

At a time when more U.S. companies are expanding their global footprints, having a tailored multinational risk program is essential. Today’s risk programs must be agile—able to navigate complex local insurance requirements, financial regulations, and evolving data privacy laws. Even a minor oversight can draw unwanted attention from local regulators, jeopardize a company’s financial interests, and may hinder the ability to process a claim after a loss. In the past, managing compliance and claims for multinational insurance programs was seen as a back-office task. Today, however, tapping into global experience is crucial when selecting an insurance provider. Forward-thinking international companies recognize that working with a globally capable insurer brings real competitive advantages—helping to manage the total cost of risk and providing the insight needed to anticipate and respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. 

Treating risk program servicing as a strategic function empowers risk managers and brokers with transparency, actionable insights, and the agility needed for success. With a global network serving customers in over 200 countries and territories, Zurich’s approach delivers confidence and clarity at every step. Here’s how we deliver and put strategy into action.

Leading with transparent, digital capabilities

Transparency is central to how Zurich delivers multinational risk program services. Having 24/7/365 access to critical risk program data, including risk engineering reports and claims status, multinational customers gain greater control and confidence in managing their global risks. This open access empowers better decision-making, every step of the way.

Zurich’s digital capabilities, increasingly enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI), empower multinational insurers to deliver the transparency global businesses need. The My Zurich portal exemplifies this commitment. Designed for customers with multinational risk programs, My Zurich provides:

• On-demand access to insurance program status
• Certificates of insurance
• Claims history
• Risk assessment data
• Natural catastrophe (CAT) information
• Risk scenarios

My Zurich also features claims status, risk improvement actions, insurance premium tax and regulatory details, and access to captive and reinsurance documents from around the globe.

A standout feature of My Zurich is its ability to let customers and brokers request certificates of insurance or instantly generate e-certificates for any coverage component within a multinational risk program. This helps provide timely proof of insurance for a variety of coverage lines, meeting requirements often set by local insurance authorities. We are continually expanding these capabilities across countries and coverage lines, providing our customers with a leading digital experience.

Delivering the value of hands-on, multinational experience

While on-demand digital resources offer significant convenience, they cannot replicate the value of experienced professionals available to assist customers when personal interactions are required. At Zurich, more than 3,000 certified specialists manage multinational programs, including a team of 100 dedicated servicing professionals. This team crafts tailored transition plans when moving global programs from other carriers and proactively supports insureds and brokers at every stage of the placement process. Their goal is to anticipate and address challenges that may arise when managing interests across multiple countries. Zurich’s servicing team also keeps customers and brokers informed about key next steps and time-sensitive issues—ensuring clear communication.

A critical responsibility of Zurich’s multinational servicing team is helping customers navigate the often-complex landscape of foreign regulatory requirements. This includes guidance on premium allocations, special tax obligations, anti-money laundering forms, and policy acceptance criteria. To make these requirements easier to manage, our team provides clear insights along with an easy-to-read heat map showing the real-time status of each local policy—such as issued, invoiced, or paid. This tool informs brokers and customers when a payment by a foreign subsidiary is overdue, enabling prompt action and helping to prevent any coverage interruptions.

Keeping customers informed about shifting litigation trends in countries where they operate is a core priority for Zurich. While the U.S. remains the most litigious developed nation, with “nuclear verdicts” of over $10 million increasingly common, other countries are beginning to experience more active civil litigation environments. Zurich’s experts closely monitor liability developments worldwide, providing timely advice to help customers anticipate and respond to changes that may impact them around the globe and are likely to affect the local country risk environment.

Optimizing money movement and tracking premium payments

Risk managers need insurers who can effectively track premium and tax payments worldwide—enabling expedited payments to reinsurers and captives.

Zurich delivers with status reports highlighting overdue premium payments and their underlying causes, plus an advanced stateside collection solution that leverages our extensive global network to eliminate processing delays. This helps prevent policy cancellations and non-renewals, even in highly regulated markets.

Comprehensive, up-to-date country data powers these capabilities. Zurich teams worldwide rely on our industry-leading, Global Program Support (GPS) tool, which maintains a database of insurance requirements and tax obligations for each country. GPS helps customers stay aligned with local laws and meet their out-of-territory tax obligations.

We are also working to enhance premium tracking transparency by providing a holistic view of complex global programs—a real challenge for companies using multiple brokers and carriers. Innovative solutions like Application Programming Interface (API) Connections are on the horizon, enabling seamless information sharing and a single source of truth for payment status. This will help all stakeholders more efficiently address payment and collection challenges.

Global insights to optimize risk strategies

A holistic view of program performance—combined with Zurich’s deep servicing experience—empowers insureds to manage their total cost of risk more effectively. This also helps insureds and their brokers anticipate future needs and identify opportunities for improvement.

Key performance indicators (KPIs), both current and historical, provide a clear picture of servicing challenges and successes. Zurich shares these KPIs during stewardship meetings, offering detailed breakdowns by country. They cover important metrics such as the time required to issue invoices and policies, as well as the speed of local payment collection.

By benchmarking these KPIs against Zurich’s wider portfolio, insureds can target improvement efforts where they will have the greatest impact—such as accelerating premium payment and issuance, which also speeds payments to captives. Our global KPI analysis is supported by intuitive dashboards and reports, enabling us to continually enhance service quality and responsiveness for our customers.

Navigating data privacy risks

With deep knowledge in global compliance, Zurich’s servicing team has identified data privacy as an increasingly critical concern for multinational customers. Today, over two-thirds of countries enforce data privacy frameworks, each with its own unique requirements and penalties for violations. Non-compliance can result in significant financial consequences; for example, a leading technology company was fined €1.2 billion under the EU’s General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR)—one of the world’s strictest frameworks. Other countries with stringent data privacy rules include Canada, Brazil, India, Australia, South Africa, and China, where violations can result in fines of up to 5% of annual revenue.¹

This challenge became clear when a U.S.-based customer wanted to analyze loss trends containing personal data from a European subsidiary. Zurich’s servicing lead guided the customer through GDPR requirements and worked together to create a compliant approach to managing sensitive data—a solution now helping other multinational clients navigate similar complexities.

Because Zurich’s multinational servicing team fully understands the risks of non-compliance, a core part of our mission is leveraging the most current tools and insights to help customers avoid pitfalls and successfully navigate the rapidly changing landscape of global data privacy regulations.

Confidence, collaboration and agility for whatever comes next

For risk managers constantly weighing their options, it’s important to have an insurance carrier who listens and explains the reasoning behind a recommendation. For instance, when a customer chooses not to work with a local broker and instead uses Zurich’s stateside collection, we emphasize the importance of providing a local country contact to review draft policies or sign local anti-money laundering forms—ensuring compliance and smooth processing. Zurich extends this support further by offering a variety of accredited continuing education programs on global coverage and servicing via the Zurich Academy.

A strategic insurance provider must also be agile in helping customers overcome operational challenges. Premium allocation and achieving internal alignment can be complex, but Zurich’s global network enables us to recommend minimum in-country premiums, consider prior-year data, and provide approximate starting figures. This helps risk managers allocate funds more efficiently and anticipate budgets with greater confidence.

A robust servicing team at the global level is essential for agility in today’s dynamic risk environment. At the heart of Zurich’s worldwide network are our 50 owned offices and five Network Service Centers—regional teams staffed by multilingual insurance specialists who are ready to step in whenever quick support or deep local knowledge is needed. For instance, when an insured planned events across multiple African countries, Zurich was able to add coverage within just one day. Another customer received insurance certificates for retail properties spanning 17 countries in only 72 hours.

In the U.S., our dedicated Multinational Servicing team brings together a holistic, multiline perspective with specialized knowledge of individual lines of business. These professionals understand the specific exposures each coverage presents across different countries, both now and in the future. Their deep insight enables them to connect the dots and draw on Zurich’s full capabilities—helping customers efficiently identify and address evolving risk opportunities, wherever they do business.

A proven commitment to servicing, claims and continued improvement

As a leading global insurer, Zurich knows what it takes to help businesses of all sizes build compliant risk management programs, delivering the right coverage and responsive service when it matters most. A Zurich Multinational Program provides:

• A dedicated team of 100 servicing professionals – regionally based and specialized by line of business, providing proactive, flexible support with real-time data and insights for your Zurich risk portfolio;
• Enhanced multinational servicing options – with a single point of contact for all lines of business, expanded reporting, and priority “white glove” servicing throughout our global network;
• A consistent, reliable claims experience – delivered by 7,500 claims professionals in 32 countries—ensuring prompt payments and a single claims contact across all lines of business, so you can get back to business quickly;
• Advanced digital tools – such as our Global Program Support tool, designed to help structure compliant multinational programs and supported by over 140 legal specialists to help you meet all legal and tax requirements.

Whether supporting you today or preparing for the risks of tomorrow, Zurich’s Multinational Servicing team is committed to helping you build a brighter future with confidence—wherever your business goes.

References

1. Global Data Privacy Laws: Country-by-Country Cheat-Sheet. Cycore. 22 June 2025.