Ransom & Extortion
Reimbursement for demands paid.
Kidnap, hijacking, extortion, product tampering, and cyber extortion linked to a physical threat. Payment terms and compliant transfer channels agreed at placement.
K&R · CRISIS RESPONSE
Kidnap & Ransom
Specialist cover for people, cargo, and operations exposed to abduction, extortion, and detention risk.
Placement is discreet by design. Every element of the programme — insurer, wording, response consultant — is chosen for confidentiality first.
Marine kidnap and ransom (K&R) insurance covers ransom payments, professional crisis response, and related losses when crew or principals are detained or abducted, including piracy incidents. Cover is typically coordinated with war risk placements for vessels transiting listed high-risk areas.
Most K&R programmes are sold as an add-on and priced from a rate table. Ours are placed as standalone contracts with a named response consultant, a defined trigger protocol, and the specific carriers we've worked with through prior incidents.
THE FIRST 24 HOURS
What happens after the first call.
Six stages, each with a person named in the binder. There is no queue, no ticket, no escalation path — the same people who placed the programme handle the incident.
- 01
First Contact
Client or family reaches the dedicated line.
The line is not a helpline. It is answered by a person who already has the client's file open. Response team engaged within the hour. - 02
Verification
Proof of life. Local intelligence assessment.
Proof of life protocol confirmed on a secure channel. Local intelligence assessment initiated. Family and internal communications placed under a strict lock-down. - 03
Negotiator on Station
Response consultant deployed in-country.
Response consultant travels to station. Local counsel already instructed at binding is engaged. A single family briefing point is established. - 04
Authorities Interface
Host government, home government, flag state.
A single, coordinated approach to the host government, the home government, and — where relevant — the flag state. Media containment is managed by the same team. - 05
Resolution
Release. Compliant transfer. Post-release care.
Negotiated release. Where a payment is agreed, transfer is routed through channels pre-mapped for the jurisdiction. Medical evacuation and psychological support follow. - 06
Post-Incident
Debrief. Security review. Renewal on preferred terms.
Structured debrief with the family and, where applicable, the employer. Security posture reviewed. Renewal placed by the same team that handled the incident — on preferred terms.
RESOLVED
HOW THIS IS PLACED
The standard market places K&R the way it places motor cover. We don't.
STANDARD MARKET
- Bolt-on to travel or D&O cover
- Rate-table pricing
- Generic response consultant assigned at claim
- Notification via broker email chain
- Payment routed through public banking channels
- Renewal on standard terms after incident
SRMG PLACEMENT
- Standalone K&R contract with named response provider
- Underwritten to specific route, role, and threat profile
- Response consultant named in the binder
- Direct-dial dedicated line, answered by a person
- Compliant channels pre-mapped by jurisdiction
- Renewal placement led by the same team that handled the incident
WHAT'S COVERED
The elements of a properly written K&R programme.
Every line item below sits inside the binder. Nothing is discretionary at claim.
Detention & Disappearance
Wrongful detention, disappearance, threat-of-detention.
Includes politically motivated hold in third-country jurisdictions. Cover engages on the incident itself, not on eventual classification by an authority.
Response Consultant
Named specialist firm on the binder.
Not a call centre. A specific firm, named at placement. On-station deployment inside 24 hours in most jurisdictions.
Legal & Medical
Retained counsel and medical evacuation.
Counsel retained in the incident jurisdiction at binding — not identified at claim. Medical evacuation and post-incident psychological support for the hostage and family.
Loss of Earnings
Salary continuation and dependent support.
Salary continuation during captivity. Rehabilitation-period income replacement. Dependent support structured to the family's actual outgoings.
Crisis Communications
Media containment and briefing.
Media containment. Structured briefing for employees, board, and family. Regulatory notification handling where the incident triggers a disclosure obligation.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Programmes we place, in the order they usually reach us.
Yacht owners and family offices with international itineraries.
Charter operators serving UHNW principals in complex jurisdictions.
Offshore energy operators with rotating expat crews in West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
NGO and media teams working in unstable environments.
Cross-border logistics operators handling high-value or sensitive cargo.
Executives and dependents with public profile, wealth, or geopolitical exposure.
CASE FILE · CONFIDENTIAL
A three-day detention in a jurisdiction we don't name.
A principal on transit was held on an administrative pretext at a border crossing outside their normal route. The programme response consultant reached the local counsel we'd instructed at binding and was inside the detention facility within nine hours. The principal was released to a private aircraft on the third morning. No press, no ransom demand paid, no public record of the incident. The programme paid the response consultant's fees, the legal fees in-country, the aircraft repositioning, and the family's temporary security detail for six weeks afterwards.
The client's previous programme did not name a response consultant. It named a helpline.
Discreet. Available. Effective. There is nothing else I can put in writing about this cover.
PRINCIPAL · PRIVATE OFFICE (WEST AFRICA OPERATIONS) · 🌍
Every K&R conversation starts privately. Message the desk directly.
Frequently asked
Kidnap & Ransom questions
K&R covers ransom payments (where lawful), crisis response consultancy costs, extortion demands, hostage negotiation, medical and psychological support, and consequential expenses following the detention or abduction of insured persons. Marine placements typically include piracy incidents and are often coordinated with war risk cover for vessels transiting listed high-risk areas.
Shipowners, operators, and crew agencies with vessels calling at ports or transiting waters exposed to piracy, detention, or politically motivated abduction. Owners and principals of superyachts operating in remote or high-risk cruising areas also carry K&R cover. Charter contracts and lenders sometimes require it as a condition of trade.
Yes — piracy is typically an insured peril under marine K&R wordings, including hostage negotiation, ransom payment where legal, medical response, and related expenses. Cover is usually coordinated with a war risk placement for the vessel and cargo, and with any onshore K&R programme covering the crewing entity.
Yes. A defining feature of K&R programmes is strict confidentiality: policy existence and terms are generally not disclosed beyond a very small circle inside the insured organisation, because visibility of cover can itself increase risk. Breach of confidentiality can void cover.
Last reviewed: July 2026