Specie

The specie class, inherited from London market vocabulary, covers property whose value far exceeds its function or material: fine art, precious metals in vaults or in transit, cash and securities, jewellery, gemstones and collectibles. It is defined less by the nature of the objects covered than by their shared risk profile, a very high unit value, low-frequency but high-severity loss experience, and an exposure concentrated on transport, handling and storage. The class operates largely on an agreed value basis, relies on expert underwriting rather than statistical actuarial science, and is a favoured terrain of specialised Lloyd's syndicates. High-security warehouses and freeports, which concentrate a considerable share of the world's specie-insured value, create a characteristic accumulation risk: a single loss can simultaneously strike hundreds of objects belonging to different policyholders.

A Lloyd's syndicate writes the contents of a Geneva high-security warehouse on a specie basis: paintings, bullion and jewellery are covered under agreed value policies, with per-location sub-limits to contain accumulation risk.

branche specie, specie class, objets de valeur, valuables