Financial & Professional Services
Complex organizations carry connected risk.
Institutional and professional organizations often face a more complex mix of executive, cyber, professional, employment, contractual and operational risk.
The Duncan Group helps organizations evaluate how these exposures connect and where traditional insurance structures may leave gaps.
Practice areas
- Private Equity & Portfolio Companies
- Where appropriate, we help coordinate risk and insurance oversight across portfolio companies so exposures and program structure can be viewed consistently. We do not provide legal, tax or investment advice.
- Healthcare & Senior Care
- Professional, general liability, employment and regulatory exposure alongside property and casualty.
- Public Sector & Education
- Governance, employment, property, auto and liability exposure under public scrutiny and statutory requirements.
- Government Contracting
- Contractual insurance requirements, professional exposure and compliance obligations.
- Nonprofits & Associations
- Board governance, volunteer exposure, employment practices and event activity.
- Technology, Media & Telecom
- Professional liability, cyber, contractual obligations and intellectual property considerations.
The risk environment
In these organizations, the most consequential exposures are often not physical. Governance decisions, employment practices, data handling, professional services and contractual commitments create risk that property and casualty coverage does not address.
Program gaps commonly appear where policies meet: between professional and general liability, between cyber and crime, between D&O and EPL.
Contract-driven insurance requirements — from investors, grantors, customers or public agencies — add an obligation layer that must be reconciled with the program actually in force.
What we evaluate
A starting point for discovery. Not every item applies to every organization.
- Executive risk and governance
- Directors and officers exposure
- Employment practices
- Cyber and data handling
- Professional liability
- Property and casualty exposure
- Contractual insurance requirements
- Portfolio or entity oversight
- Claims history and reporting practices
- Business continuity
- Vendor and third-party dependency
Common coverage areas
Lines frequently involved in these programs. Structure depends on the operation.
- Directors and officers
- Employment practices liability
- Fiduciary liability
- Professional liability
- Cyber and technology
- Crime and fidelity
- Commercial property
- General liability
- Commercial auto
- Workers' compensation
- Umbrella and excess liability
Risk management
- Governance documentation
- Board composition, policies, minutes and oversight practices influence how executive-risk underwriters evaluate the organization.
- Cyber controls
- Authentication, backup, access control, vendor management and incident response reviewed alongside the coverage that responds to them.
- Employment practices
- Handbooks, training, documentation and separation procedures as a practical control, not a formality.
- Business continuity
- Dependency mapping and recovery planning tested before an event forces the analysis.
Underwriting strategy
Underwriters price governance and controls.
For executive, professional and cyber lines, the underwriting conversation is largely about how the organization is run.
Presentation typically benefits from clarity on:
Clear documentation reduces the assumptions an underwriter must otherwise make.
- Ownership, governance and board structure
- Financial position and material changes
- Employment policies and practices
- Security controls and incident history
- Contractual obligations assumed
- How prior claims or incidents were handled
Claims
Claims advocacy- Employment-related allegations are among the most common executive-risk claims for organizations of many types.
- Cyber incidents typically involve business interruption, response cost and third-party dimensions at once.
- Professional liability matters often turn on documentation of scope, advice and communication.
The Duncan Approach
The same discipline, applied to financial & professional services.
- 01
Understand
RiskDiagnostic
- 02
Map
Risk Mapping
- 03
Improve
RiskGuard
- 04
Position
Underwriting & Premium Negotiation Strategy
- 05
Transfer
Marketplace Execution
- 06
Manage
Ongoing Risk Management
Where we focus within this practice reflects what tends to matter most to the market and to the operation itself.
- Executive risk
- D&O, EPL and fiduciary structures reviewed against governance, ownership and transaction activity.
- Cyber and technology risk
- Controls, dependencies and incident response evaluated alongside the coverage that responds to them.
- Contractual obligations
- Insurance requirements in contracts and engagements reconciled with the program that has to satisfy them.
The Duncan Difference
Related RiskThoughts
Industry intelligence covering financial & professional services is in preparation. RiskThoughts is our research and market-intelligence publication.
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Speak with a risk advisor.
Tell us about the organization, its governance and how the current program is structured.