Professional indemnity · E&O
Professional-indemnity cover for financial-services and fintech firms touches every operational activity that produces an output a client relies on. For digital-asset advisers, exchanges, custodians, and infrastructure providers, the wording must address the specific advisory and operational acts that produce loss — and exclude the perils that belong on Crime / Specie / Custody binders.
Perils
01
Insuring clause ·Cover responds to claims arising from negligent advice provided in the course of the insured’s professional activity.
Exclusions ·For digital-asset advisers, the question of what constitutes “advice” — and what constitutes promotion — is read against FCA rules and the wording’s “Professional Services” definition; activity outside that definition falls outside cover.
02
Insuring clause ·Cover responds to claims arising from operational failures in the conduct of the insured’s services, including settlement error, reconciliation error, and certain types of system failure.
Exclusions ·Frequently dovetails with cyber and Crime; the wording’s “Professional Services” definition is the decisive language, and overlap with other classes can produce coverage gaps.
03
Insuring clause ·Cover responds to claims arising from errors in documents, reports, or communications produced by the insured.
Exclusions ·Excludes deliberate misstatement and any documentary act that constitutes dishonest conduct, which is reserved to Crime / fidelity cover.
04
Insuring clause ·Cover responds (subject to wording) to defence costs of regulatory matters arising from the conduct of professional services.
Exclusions ·Wordings vary on whether enforcement-action defence is in or out; fines and penalties may or may not be insurable by jurisdiction and are read for each regulator named in the schedule.
05
Insuring clause ·Cover does not respond to dishonest acts (separate Crime cover), market-value loss of digital assets held in custody (separate Crime / Specie cover), or smart-contract logic events (separate cyber / contract cover).
Exclusions ·Where these exposures are present in the insured’s operating posture, they belong on a separate binder and are placed in co-ordination with the PI tower rather than within it.
Underwriting
Scope of professional services. Activity description, regulated permissions held.
Client base. Type, geography, concentration, mandate size.
Operational architecture. Order-management, settlement, reconciliation, vendor stack.
Quality controls. Peer review, sign-off matrix, supervisory chain.
Claims and complaints history. Material matters over the prior 60 months.
Existing programmes. Current PI incumbent, retention, claims experience, sub-limits.
Use the RFI form to indicate your operating posture — same business day response from a named broker.
Carrier panel
Panel slot 01
Published on authorisation.
Panel slot 02
Published on authorisation.
Panel slot 03
Published on authorisation.
Panel slot 04
Published on authorisation.
Panel slot 05
Published on authorisation.
Panel slot 06
Published on authorisation.
Process
Enquiry
RFI form or direct email to a named broker. Same-business-day acknowledgement; named broker assigned within one business day.
Pre-qualification
Six-question Q-pack run jointly. Initial appetite read from the PI market. Typically 5-10 business days.
Submission
Underwriting submission drafted by znobia; reviewed with the client; sent to the target market. Typically 5-15 business days.
Quote
Markets respond with indicative terms. We summarise quotes against the original risk and the buyer’s stated priorities — limit, retention, exclusions.
Bind
Client issues an instruction-to-bind. Binder issued by the carrier. Typically a further 5-10 business days post-quote.
Servicing
Endorsements, mid-term changes, claims notifications, renewal. Each handled by the same named broker as on placement.
Typical timeline: 4-10 weeks for new programmes; 3-6 weeks for renewals. Expedited paths available for renewal.
Related primers
Operational error at the cyber / PI boundary
Forthcoming
znobia acts as an insurance intermediary. We do not underwrite risk. Cover, where available, is placed with authorised carriers and is subject to underwriter approval, policy terms, exclusions and conditions. Nothing on this site is investment, tax, legal or financial advice. Cover described on this page is illustrative. Availability, terms, limits, retentions, sub-limits, and pricing are determined by the underwriter and are subject to underwriter approval, policy terms, exclusions, and conditions.