Commercial crime insurance

Crime is increasingly recognised as a significant and evolving threat to businesses across Asia. 

While traditional risks such as employee dishonesty, collusion, and hacking or computer-related crime remain a concern, technology has introduced more complex and sophisticated threats that are harder to detect and control.

The crime risks businesses cannot ignore

Today’s crime risks extend well beyond familiar types of fraud. Social engineering and deepfake technology are enabling more convincing impersonation schemes, while third-party fraud is growing in complexity. While such risks earlier mainly affected financial institutions owing to the nature of their businesses, in recent years, we have witnessed a significant surge in fraud cases that have impacted our clients in the technology, manufacturing, and e-commerce sectors.

• Rising fraud and losses: AI-driven impersonation scams, deepfakes, and social engineering attacks are escalating across Asia.
• Greater risk in a connected workplace: Remote work, automation, and reliance on digital systems widen the attack surface.
• Gaps in existing insurance coverage: Many organisations assume they are covered, only to discover gaps after a loss.

These risks highlight the dynamic and unpredictable nature of crime, making it increasingly difficult for organisations of all sizes to anticipate and mitigate potential losses effectively.

What does commercial crime insurance cover?

As fraud becomes more sophisticated, prevention alone is no longer enough. A well-structured commercial crime insurance policy provides financial protection when deception bypasses controls. 

• Employee white-collar fraud
  Marsh data for Asia shows that around 50% of crime policy notifications are for employee fidelity losses, involving trusted employees, often in senior roles, who exploit systems for personal gain.

• Third-party fraud
  External partners or suppliers may manipulate invoices or payment details to divert funds to fraudulent accounts.

• Collusion
  Fraud becomes harder to detect when employees collude with each other or external parties, bypassing internal controls.

• Hacking or computer-related crime
  While crime policies usually exclude ransomware attacks, most will cover direct financial losses from funds stolen by hackers infiltrating your systems through phishing or other attacks.

• Social engineering fraud
  Criminals impersonate executives using email, phone, or even deepfake technology to deceive staff into transferring funds.

• Tangible asset theft
  Protects against the theft of cash or valuables, including safes, vaults, and other high-value property.

Marsh helps organisations navigate the complexity of crime insurance, where definitions and extensions differ across insurers, to secure coverage aligned with their risks.

Watch the video below to discover seven key actions to build a holistic risk management strategy to stay ahead of deepfake-related fraud — from employee training to regular insurance reviews.