Identity Crisis

If you’ve already handled the client end of identity theft, what about your own vulnerability? Your business runs on confidential information. Social Security numbers, account numbers, balances, net worth information, access information for client accounts–it’s all there in your files. As a fiduciary, you’re responsible for protecting all the client information in your files. But are you covered if the unthinkable happens and that information gets out?

Advisors can get coverage for their own businesses through a product now offered by AIG’s Identity Theft and Fraud Division. Called AIG Corporate Identity Protection (CIP), it was just launched in September, says Nancy Callahan, divisional VP, and has already been sold to “insurance agencies, auto dealers, and direct marketing companies.” Callahan believes that advisors would most frequently use policy-provided benefits “for crisis management expenses, notification costs, and the cost of services provided to the individuals whose personal information may have been compromised.”