Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a data analysis agency
An agency rarely does everything itself. Your name is on the report, even if the model was built by a hired-in analyst and the data sits with a third party.
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In brief
Covered are pure financial loss: financial detriment to a client without injury or damage to property. At an analytics agency it arises from a segmentation model on which a client targets his campaigns, a stock or demand model that comes out structurally too low, or a report that the client forwards unchanged to his own accountant, financier or regulator. From that moment there is a party in the chain with whom you have no contract, but who can still bring a claim against you under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code.
For the work of others you are liable to your client as if the mistake were your own. For auxiliaries you engage that follows from Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code and for employees from Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code. So decide explicitly whether hired-in self-employed professionals (zzp'ers) are named as co-insured on your policy or whether you require them to hold their own professional indemnity insurance for self-employed professionals. Without that choice, you are left with the claim and with the recovery action.
In almost every engagement involving personal data you are a processor within the meaning of Article 28 of the GDPR. If you use a cloud service or an external modeller, those are sub-processors for which consent and a back-to-back agreement are needed. Fines from the regulator remain outside every liability policy. The cost of a breach in your own environment belongs on a cyber insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points on which an agency's risk differs from that of an individual analyst.
Mistakes by hired-in analysts
A claim comes to you, even if the mistake was made by a freelancer or a subcontractor. Check the class of insured persons on the policy schedule: if it lists only employees on the payroll, hired-in staff fall outside it. Set out in your purchasing terms what cover you require from them and ask for proof of it each year.
Processor, sub-processor and the row behind them
The obligations in a processing agreement are contractual obligations. Breaching them is a failure to perform, but many policies exclude liability under penalty clauses and indemnities. So look not only at what you promise, but also at the sanction the client has attached to that promise.
Model results that disadvantage groups
In scoring, selection or risk profiling an outcome can work out systematically to the disadvantage of a group. The complaints that follow are not a classic professional error. Ask whether claims about unlawful or discriminatory outcomes fall within the description of your activities. On various policies they are limited or excluded.
Clients outside Europe
The area of cover is Europe as standard. Work for American or Canadian clients, or a contract with a choice of law outside the Netherlands, is almost always excluded unless it is expressly included. Report it when you apply: under Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code, failing to disclose can affect payment of a claim.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for advisory and analytical engagements
- Number of analysts including hired-in staff: co-insured freelancers count too
- Proportion of personal data: sensitive categories increase the risk
- Type of assignments: model building and scoring weigh more heavily than reporting
- Area of cover. North America calls for separate acceptance
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and capped per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| Your demand model comes out structurally too low and your client holds too little stock for months | No | Yes |
| A client's monitor falls off the desk when your analyst connects his docking station | Yes | No |
| A member of staff sends a client file to the wrong recipient | No | Provided that |
| The cloud service on which you run your analyses goes down and your client cannot report for a week | No | Provided that |
| Your client withholds the final invoice because the dashboard was delivered late | No | No |
| Your agency loses turnover because a large contract is terminated after the mistake | No | No |
For work you outsource you are liable to your client as if the mistake were your own, so settle in advance who is named on which policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Are the self-employed professionals we take on covered by our policy?
Only if the policy schedule says so. Some insurers include hired-in staff as long as they work under your direction and in your name, others do not. If you do not arrange it, you are still liable to your client for their mistakes under Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code, but you have no cover for it. In that case require them to hold their own policy and record that in the contract.
We work for an American client. Is that covered?
Not as a matter of course. Most policies exclude claims brought in the United States or Canada or judged under the law there. Report this work in advance; insurers assess it separately and usually charge a loading or a higher excess for it. Reporting it afterwards no longer helps once the claim has arrived.
The client supplied contaminated source data himself. Are we liable then?
That depends on what you should have spotted. An analyst is expected to check the data supplied for plausibility and to report anomalies. If you did so in writing and the client went ahead anyway, contributory fault under Article 6:101 of the Dutch Civil Code comes into play and the loss is apportioned. Keep that correspondence with the file.
Do we need public and employers' liability insurance as well as this policy?
In reality, yes. As soon as staff visit clients or take equipment with them, there is a chance of damage to property and injury, and that falls outside this policy. It belongs on a public and employers' liability insurance. The two policies dovetail along the type of loss, not along the type of engagement.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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