IN THE KNOW


29 AUGUST, 2024

Behind The Headlines: Uncovering the insurance stories in global news

Insurance news: SS Arcadian, Toyota scandal, hurricanes and sinkholes

Almost every news story has an insurance angle. In this article we explore the insurance stories behind the news. As you’ll see, whether it’s business insurance or personal insurance, buying cover protects your finances when disasters happen.


Tragedy in Kuala Lumpur as sinkhole swallows a tourist
A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by the surface layer collapsing into a hole underneath it. They can be natural or man-made by mining activity, pipe systems like sewers, and underground railways. They can open up with no warning, which is exactly what happened in Kuala Lumpur.

We tend to think cities are safe places. They’re made by humans, carefully designed, kept in good condition by the authorities. But an incident in Kuala Lumpur reveals how we all need to be wary of urban environments.

The accident involved an Indian tourist falling into an 8m deep sinkhole that opened up unexpectedly, sending her down into the city’s sewer system. The search for her continues. A second sinkhole appeared a few days later.

The incidents raise serious questions about maintaining and monitoring public spaces in KL and elsewhere. There are calls for an accurate map of the city’s underground infrastructure. People are remembering 2015 when a social media post criticised the safety of the streets, talking about potential sinkholes. Then we had the trees falling on busy roads during a storm a few months ago.

It’s also an insurance matter. City authorities have public liability insurance to cover their own legal costs and pay compensation to people after accidents like this. People who have comprehensive health insurance and personal accident insurance can claim for treatment and claim compensation for various life-changing injuries. And the landslip and subsidence clause in property policies pays out for financial losses, too.


100 year old cargo
A British ship that sank on the anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, drowning 279 people before plummeting to the depths, has finally been found in the Aegean Sea 107 years later, 163m down.

The ocean liner SS Arcadian was chartered by the Royal Navy in 1915 to help fight the First World War. She sank on 15th April 1917 on the way to Salonika in Greece after being hit by a German torpedo, five years to the day after the Titanic sank.

One man, the Titanic survivor Thomas Threlfall, was on board the Arcadian but managed to survive a second sinking. That’s what we call lucky!

The insurance side of the story? The ship herself would have been insured, probably by speciality War Risk insurers at Lloyd’s of London. These days travel insurance would cover the survivor Thomas Threlfall’s belongings, and pay for treatment for any injuries he suffered, but back then he probably wouldn’t have cover. The first ever travel insurance agency was set up in 1864, but policies were almost exclusively sold to the upper class because most ordinary people couldn’t afford to travel.


The insurance side of Toyota’s testing fraud
When Toyota Motor Corporation admitted to fraudulent testing on a grand scale, using insufficient or old crash test data, testing airbag inflation wrongly and getting engine power checks wrong, people who owned Toyota cars were relived the problems didn’t affect existing vehicles. But it’s sad to see more problems arising around pedestrian protection certification, side collisions, and steering.

The company itself is suffering from reputation damage. They’ve stopped making some models and they may end up manufacturing 500,000 fewer vehicles worldwide than their usual 11 million a year.

The insurance angle? D&O insurance – also called Directors and Officers Insurance - provides liability cover for company bosses to protect them from claims arising from decisions and actions taken as part of their everyday duties. It reimburses the business for losses and legal defence costs. Product liability insurance covers the cost of compensating people who are injured by a faulty product designed, made or supplied by a business.


Scented candles prove a big new business hit
You have a business idea. It fails. You have another idea, and it doesn’t work. But you keep trying, and finally you find an idea that succeeds. That’s what happened to business owner Mohd Zaid Othman, whose passion for making beautiful scented candles set him off on the road to success.

In 2019 Mohd launched Lampu Cherita to sell his candles on Shopee. But as a novice, he was struggling with the ecommerce side of things. Luckily Shopee offered the support and knowledge he needed, with free online training in vital business skills like sales, marketing, operations, lead generation, sales conversion and inventory management, all provided by Shopee Xperts.

Thanks to the actionable advice he had from the professionals, Lampu Cherita is on route to a great future. So how does insurance help people like Mohd? Business insurance protects finances in so many ways, from insuring the premises, stock and contents to things like public liability, business interruption and more. Once you know your finances are safe from disasters, it’s a lot easier to innovate!


Typhoon Amil threatens Malaysians in Japan’s Kanto region
When typhoon Amil was heading for Japan’s Kanto region, the Malaysian Embassy in Tokyo issued a warning to Malaysians in the area to be careful. The typhoon was expected to bring heavy rain, strong winds, landslides, enormous waves and flooding to the Izu Island, Kanto, and Tohoku regions for a period of two days. They also advised people not to travel until the storm passed.

International reports revealed people in other eras of Japan were advised to evacuate, and some people’s homes lost power as the typhoon headed for the coast near the capital. The storm raged, intensifying to Category 4 hurricane level, with winds as strong as 212 kilometres an hour.

Insurance-wise, storms and natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and high winds are covered by most policies designed to protect property. This kind of cover is becoming more important for people and businesses as the climate heats up.


How can we help you today?

Are you properly insured for the right amounts and the right risks? We sell a wide range of insurance policies to suit all sorts of risks, for businesses and families. We’re always happy to help.



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