Type of Business Insurance in Malaysia
Malaysian Business insurance protects companies from various kinds of perils or uncertainties in Malaysia. There are various types of business International insurance policies that suit industries or sizes of operation.
Some of the common types of business insurance in Malaysia include:
1. Public Liability in International Malaysian Insurance
• Purpose: It protects International businesses from third-party claims for injuries or property damage arising out of or in the course of the operations of a business.
• Coverage: Solicitor's costs, compensation claims, and International medical expenses arising if a customer or third party is injured or their property is damaged at business in Malaysian premises.
2. Product Liability Insurance
• Purpose: For businesses in the business of manufacturing or selling products, this Malaysian insurance covers claims arising from any form of damage or injury caused by the products.
• Coverage: Solicitor's cost, compensation payments, and other attendant expenses for charges against defective products.
3. Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Purpose: It involves service-based industries, and it covers legal costs and also the damages if it is due to wrong advice or services by the business that have resulted in a loss for its clients.
• Industry: This type of insurance is taken up by consultants, architects, Malaysian engineers, and accountants.
4. Malaysian Workers' Compensation Insurance (SOCSO)
• Purpose: This is a law-related and mandatory type of insurance required for the International Malaysian employers, providing medication and compensation for lost wages in events of injury or sickness due to work-related activities.
• Coverage: The SOCSO subscription pays compensation to workers in the case of accidents or illness arising from work.
5. Fire and Property Insurance
• Purpose: To provide compensation against loss due to fire, theft, or natural catastrophes affecting buildings, equipment, and inventories of the business concern.
• Cover: Compensation for repair/replacement of International Malaysian property, equipment, and inventories due to fire and other catastrophes
6. Malaysian Business Interruption Insurance
• Purpose: Covers loss of income when a business, due to the occurrence of an insured peril like fire or flood, has to temporarily shut down its operations.
• Coverage: It covers loss of income, rent paid, salaries, and operation expenses during the interruption period.
7. Malaysian Employer's Liability Insurance
• Purpose: Gives protection to employers against employee injury or illness during work and subsequent legal liabilities arising from those injuries or illnesses.
• Coverage: Legal expenses and compensation claims by International employees for injuries or illnesses sustained at work.
8. Group Personal Accident Insurance
• Purpose: To provide cover to the employees against sudden accidents resulting in injury, disability, and even death.
• Coverage: It provides medical expenses and disability and death International benefits to employees who incur injury due to an accident, either on or off the job.
9. Malaysian Motor Insurance
• Purpose: For companies maintaining on-road fleets, motor insurance is a necessity. The International insurance compensates for damage to vehicles or liability arising due to accidents.
• Coverage: Loss to company vehicles, loss to third-party property, injury claims.
10. D&O Insurance
• Purpose: Covers directors and officers against personal liability in case of a lawsuit against them because of their actions as company executives due to any wrongful acts, mismanagement, or even negligence on their part.
• International Malaysian Coverage: Legal costs, settlements, fines; Malaysian occurrences involving these according to claims against company executives
11. Cyber Insurance
• Purpose: This provides cover over risks emanating from data breaches, hacking, or cyber attacks, as different businesses across the board have grown increasingly reliant on digital systems.
• Coverage includes: legal expenses, costs of investigation, regulatory fines, and compensation related to data loss or breaches.
Insurance for business in Malaysia comes with numerous benefits, which act towards the protection of businesses from International financial losses because of unforeseen events.
Benefits from the kinds of business insurance in International Malaysia are highlighted below:
1. Public Liability Insurance
• Protection Against Legal Malaysian Claims: It covers the cost of litigation and damages awarded if a third party is injured or suffers property damage during the activities carried out by the business.
• Safeguards Business Reputation: It helps businesses operate in the trust of their clients and the public because it ensures the business can deal with compensation claims.
2. Malaysian Product Liability Insurance
• Coverage for Defective Products: It covers International Malaysian businesses from lawsuits coming about due to products causing injury or damage. This saves the business from extreme loss.
• Consumer Confidence: Helps reassure the customer that the business is responsible and has measures put in place to rectify problems with its products.
3. Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Legal Protection for Professionals: Provides businesses that offer services with cover against clients' claims of negligence, errors, or omissions. • Safeguard Professional Reputation: The insurance covers the legal costs and sometimes settlements that arise from claims, thus cushioning the effects such that the business reputation is not affected much.
4. Property Insurance
• Protection Against Physical Damage: Losses from fires, theft, floods, or other damages to Malaysian business properties are covered in order to maintain business continuity.
• Financial Stability: It saves the small business owner from suffering much, especially when replacements or repair costs are urgently needed.
5. Malaysian Workers' Compensation Insurance
• Employee Protection: Covers International Malaysian medical expenses and lost wages for employees who get injured at work and provides fair compensation.
• Legal Requirements: A form of insurance that helps the business comply with the law for coverage to be provided to employees in Malaysia.
6. International Malaysian Business Interruption Insurance
• Continuity During Disruptions: In cases of natural calamities, fires, or any other events resulting in disturbances to normal operations, income losses are covered under this insurance to get businesses up and running sooner.
• Prevents International Financial Loss: When a business is not operating, it can pay essential Malaysian expenses such as rent and salaries with this insurance policy, thus enabling it to survive.
7. Vehicle/Commercial Auto Insurance
• Malaysian Company Vehicle Protection: Pays for damages, theft, or accidents involving company-owned vehicles.
• Reduces Financial Impact: The International company does not have to bear all the expenses for repairs or replacements of vehicles caused by accidents or theft.
8. International Malaysian Cyber Insurance
• Protection against Cyber Threats: In case of a breach of information, cyber-attacks, and loss of sensitive data information.
• Helps in Recovery Costs: Ensures legality costs related to data recovery and clients whose information has been exposed.
General Benefits across the Board:
• Risk Management: Business insurance mitigates against unforeseen risks. It thus gives one the confidence to run a business.
• Malaysian Legal Compliance: There are cases wherein insurance is legally necessary. It thus means that businesses operate within their legal requirements as set by their regulatory bodies.
• Business Growth: With the security of Malaysian insurance, businesses can expand or invest in areas wherein there is growth potential without fearing setbacks due to unforeseen events.
Unfortunately, despite the utmost importance of Malaysian business insurance to a company in Malaysia, there are several disadvantages a business will have to bear.
Listed below are the major disadvantages for various forms of business insurances: 
1. Public Liability Insurance
• High Premium International Malaysian Costs: These could be expensive for Malaysian businesses that require high levels of public interaction, such as retail or hospitality.
• Exclusions and limitations: they don't allow coverage for coverage of certain types of claims, such as intentional damage and injury.
2. Malaysian Product Liability Insurance
• Manufacturers pay more expensive Malaysian premiums in cases when high value or large quantity claims are possible especially for food or electronic manufacturer.
• Limited Product Recall Coverage: An insurer pays only a meager fraction of the expenses involved in a product recall if a company releases a defective product into the Malaysian market. This means the business has to bear the major share of the financial burden on account of product recall.
3. Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Gaps in Cover: Some policies may not cover all professional mistakes, especially when some conditions are not adhered to.
• Difficulty in the Claims Procedure: It may be very cumbersome, complicated, and time-consuming to prove professional negligence. This often delays compensation.
4. Property Insurance
• Insured underinsurance risk: Grossly inadequate insurance due to undervaluing of assets/properties just to save on premiums in the face of a disastrous disaster.
• Natural disasters exclusions: Policies will also exclude certain natural disasters that could be common in parts of Malaysia, such as floods or earthquakes.
5. Workmen's Compensation Insurance
• Rising Costs for High-Risk Industries: Workers' compensation insurance is much costlier in those industries where the incidence of injuries is greater.
• Not Covering All Malaysian Claims: Injuries or accidents unrelated to the job directly, or that occur due to negligence on the part of the employee, may not be covered.
6. Malaysian Business Interruption Insurance
• Difficulty in Proving Losses: The business cannot easily prove the amount of lost income due to losses; this is because not all businesses maintain good financial records.
• Limited Duration of Cover: Business interruption policies usually cover a specific duration, sometimes even this will be too little for the business to get back on its feet.
7. Vehicle/Commercial Auto Insurance
• Highly Priced for Multiple Vehicles: Businesses relying heavily on fleet of vehicles-such as logistic or delivery firms-will be highly priced in premiums.
• Exclusion of Coverage for Certain Drivers: If the accident happens to involve an unlicensed or unauthorized driver, there the Malaysian insurance may not pay for damages but leaves the business exposed to risks.
8. Malaysian Cyber Insurance
• Coverage Limitations: Most policies have limitations in terms of what cyber incidents are covered, and some may exclude attack types, for instance, ransomware, or perhaps require strict cybersecurity measures to be in place.
• Evolving Cyber Threats: While cyber threats are continuously changing, businesses may find their insurance does not provide coverage for the newest forms of hacking.
• Malaysian Cost of Premiums: The cost of premiums adds up, and for a small business, this can be viewed as an unnecessary use of finances if no claims are filed.
• Deductibles and Co-Payments: With most policies, businesses have to pay a deductible amount or a certain percentage of the claim, which again becomes a considerable outlay.
• Administrative Complexity: Dealing with several insurance policies, tracking their premiums, renewals, and claim processes can be really time-consuming and cumbersome.
• Exclusions and Fine Print:
Most Malaysian policies have complex and multivariate exclusions that might reduce cover in unexpected ways and thereby leave businesses exposed to some risks.
1. Public Liability Insurance
• Policy Purpose: To provide legal liability protection for third-party bodily injury or property damage occurring on Malaysian business premises or arising from business operations.
• Coverage Includes:
o legal fees
o medical expenses
o compensation claims
• Exclusions:
o Damage to property belonging to the business
o Intentional act or business neglect
2. Product Liability Insurance
• Malaysian Policy Purpose: It provides protection to the business manufacturing, supplying, or selling any product against a claim arising due to injury or damage because of a defective product.
• Coverage Includes :
o Legal costs incurred to defend
o Compensation for injury or damage to property
• Exclusions Include:
o The products sold outside the Malaysian coverage period of the policy
o Product wear and tear
3. Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Policy Purpose: It provides protection for professionals against Malaysian claims of negligence, error, or omission in the services rendered.
• Coverage Includes:
o Malaysian Legal costs incurred to defend
o Amount of settlement compensatory damages
• Exclusion Includes:
o Fraudulent acts
o Contractual liabilities
4. Property Insurance
• Insurance Policy: This insurance Malaysian policy shall cover the damage to the Malaysian physical assets of a Malaysian business organization due to some unfortunate event such as fire, theft, or natural calamity that also covers buildings, machinery, inventory, and equipment.
• Coverage Includes:
o Fire
o Theft and burglary
o Natural disasters-for some Malaysian policies, it remains optional
• Exclusions:
o War, terrorism, or nuclear incidences
o Wear and tear or gradual deterioration
5. Malaysian Workers' Compensation Insurance
• Insurance Policy: The policy insures medical expenses and lost wages for workers in case of injury or illness due to work-related causes.
• Coverage Includes:
o Medical Treatment Expenses
o Lost Wages Compensation
o Rehabilitation Expenses
• Exclusions:
bedo Injuries intentional by employee misconducto Self-inflicted injuries
6. Business Interruption Insurance
• Malaysian Policy Purpose: To provide coverage for lost income and extra expenses resulting from an interruption to the business operation due to some covered event, such as fire or natural disasters
• Coverage Includes:
o Lost income
o Rent and loan payments
o Payroll expenses
• Exclusions:
o Losses because of poor business conditions
o Disruptions not caused by a covered peril; for example, cyber attacks if not included in the Malaysian policy
7. Commercial Auto Insurance
• Policy Purpose: It covers company-owned vehicles involved in an accident, stolen, or damaged when used for company business.
• Coverage Include:
o Cost of repairing or replacing your business vehicles
o Third-party liability for injuries or property damages
o Business Malaysian medical payments: Medical expenses to employees due to an auto injury in a business vehicle
• Exclusions Include:
o Accidents involving unauthorized drivers
o Damage caused intentionally
8. Malaysian Cyber Insurance
• Policy Purpose: To protect businesses from losses arising as a result of cyber-attack, data breaches, and other incidents involving cyber.
• Coverage Includes:
o Data breach response
o Legal costs/legal settlements
o Loss of business income
• Exclusion Include:
Any cyber-attacks that have occurred because of aggravating Malaysian security practices
security system upgrade costs after an attack
9. Key Man Insurance
• What the Malaysian policy covers : the insurance provides monetary security in case the business's key person- usually the owner, Chief Executive Officer, or top executive dies or becomes unable to continue running his functions.
• What the Malaysian policy covers :
A lump-sum payment to the business
Malaysian Assistance in business sustenance
• What the policy does NOT cover :
Death or inability to work due to suicide (within a stated period)
pre-existing health condition
General Features of Business Insurance Policies in Malaysia:
• The premiums refer to the dollar amount the Malaysian business pays for the insurance, usually based on the size of the business, the risk factors, and the type of coverage chosen.
• Deductibles are the amount a business has to pay out-of-pocket before the insurance coverage actually starts paying out claims.
• Malaysian Policy limits refer to the maximum amount payable in case an insurance company admits to a claim.
• Automatic Renewals: Business insurance is usually renewable annually. The premium could also increase if any claim has been made or if a risk factor has increased in any way.
• Malaysian Regulations: Bank Negara Malaysia requires that policies of business insurance be brought under the Financial Services Act, 2013 and Insurance Act, 1996 to make the Malaysian insurance providers comply with legal and regulatory standards requirements.
Posted on 2024/09/18 08:45 AM