Fidelity and Deposit Introduces E-Business Risk Management Service
The offering, which is available immediately and will be marketed under both the F&D and Z-FIRMS brands, combines insurance and other risk transfer offerings from F&D with consulting services provided by IBM and other service providers to help companies assess and reduce e-business exposures.
The emergence of e-business offerings, such as online banking and securities trading, has created tremendous marketing opportunities for innovative companies, F&D says. E-Risk is designed to deliver added security and reassurance to those companies migrating to the Internet and network technology in the new e-business environment. Financial services companies, in particular, want to ensure their e-business services are not vulnerable to potential losses resulting from security breaches, such as network hacking, viruses, and electronic thefts.
Anticipating the quickly growing e-business needs of the financial services industry, F&D's E-Risk Protection Program "allows companies to reap the benefits of a networked world and stay on the cutting edge of technology, while offering protection against certain risks and liabilities," the company says.
"Many companies in the financial services industry are becoming increasingly involved with various forms of electronic business activities, but they are doing so with a growing degree of concern over the risks and exposures," says Annette Merz, president of F&D's Financial Services Division. "We are excited about E-Risk and the comprehensive protection it offers. In pre-introduction discussions about E-Risk with some of our clients we have received a very enthusiastic initial response to this new solution.
"Delivering the high quality solution that our customers deserve, led us to combine F&D's extensive risk management and market experience with IBM's industry-leading security and consulting services," adds Merz. "This offering will make electronic business activities safer for our clients."
"Clearly, many forward-thinking companies in the financial services industry see e-business as a critical tool for competing in today's marketplace," said Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty, global general manager of IBM's Global Insurance Sector. "By delivering sophisticated risk management and security tools, F&D's E-Risk offering will make it easier for these financial services companies to transform their service offerings to an e-business model. As a leader in the world of e-business, IBM is in a unique position to provide F&D and its customers with consulting services that in addition to the F&D offering will help them to succeed in a networked environment."
The company says The E-Risk Protection Program from F&D helps identify and manage electronic risks by providing unique risk assessment services and innovative loss protection products. F&D developed the E-Risk Protection Program especially for financial services organizations that engage in a variety of e-business activities such as: electronic access to account information; electronic business transactions; internal and external e-mail; Web site hosting and the online publishing of information; and collaboration through Internet-based private networks.
According to F&D, the program begins with a thorough assessment of each customer's e-business exposures that can include certain IBM security consulting services. These services encompass remote scans of the customer's sites to check for vulnerabilities, on-site interviews and security implementation review, and educational workshops on security issues. Activities and security measures, as well as the causes of previous incidents and breaches, are reviewed to determine if any areas need additional attention to bring the company up to widely accepted security benchmarks. F&D and IBM can assist companies in applying operational and technical risk management tools to mitigate or potentially eliminate any uncovered risks. To protect against losses, a full range of risk transfer mechanisms, including F&D's insurance products and alternative methods such as captives and rent-a-captives, can be provided.
F&D says the program includes the following features:
Loss of Business Income Coverage can replace not only the business income and additional expenses incurred as a result of interrupted services, but can also pay for the cost of investigating the reason for the loss of service. This coverage is important for anyone who transacts business or offers services through the Internet or any other network.
Public Relations Coverage for the expenses incurred to help rebuild a company's reputation from negative publicity resulting from a covered cause of loss.
Intellectual Property Coverage protects against the loss of proprietary information or software through deliberate or inadvertent misappropriation. This includes unique software and customer files.
Difference in Conditions provides protection against uncertainties in coverage from existing policies as they pertain to the e-business activities covered in E-Risk.
Interruption of Service Liability Protection covers liabilities to third parties for e-business losses, including reasonable expenses incurred in the defense or appeal of claims.
Electronic Publishing Liability covers liabilities incurred from publishing information electronically including defamation of character, libel and slander, as well as copyright infringements, plagiarism or misappropriation of ideas. This coverage is especially important to any company with a Web page or one acting as a host for others. Not only does E-Risk pay the legitimate claims, but also the defense costs involved with those claims.