Business & Liability

Running a business in Portugal brings a set of insurance obligations that do not map neatly onto those of any other country, and a foreign-owned company usually meets them in the wrong order — incorporating first, discovering the compulsory covers second. Workers' compensation is the obvious one and it is compulsory from the first employee. Beyond it sit the covers required by a specific professional body, by a public tender, by a landlord, or by the contract with a single large client, none of which appear in any general list.

This category covers the liability lines a business actually gets asked for. Professional indemnity, where the trigger, the retroactive date and the run-off provision matter more than the limit. Directors' and officers' cover, including the exposure of a non-executive director sitting on a board in a country they do not live in. Cyber, which in practice means ransomware, business interruption and the notification obligations that follow a personal-data breach. Construction and works policies, where the parties insured change as the project moves between phases.

We also write about how the more unusual risks get placed. Not everything is quoted from a standard rating table: complementary therapy practices, family offices and fiduciary work, key-person cover for a business whose owner lives abroad, and distribution companies with stock in transit all need an underwriter who will look at the file rather than the postcode. Understanding which market a risk belongs in — and what an insurer needs to see before it will price it at all — is a large part of what an intermediary does.

Looking for a quote rather than a read? See our Business insurance page.