Protect your company from the loss of a Key Person
Provide funds to recruit a replacement
Pay off creditors on other liabilities
Buy time to restructure the business
Replace lost expertise
Strengthen your balance sheet
Improve cashflow
Create security among other directors, partners, bankers and creditors

Within every business there is at least one key person who the business depends upon. This may be the managing director, a salesman, the chief project manager or a key designer in a design company etc. These people are often very difficult to replace when losing them through a critical illness or even death. Their absence from the workplace can often have a devastating effect with orders lost and even a possible loss of confidence from creditors and bankers.

There are two main types of business assurance, key man and partnership assurance / director share purchase.

Key Man

Is used to inject a lump sum of cash into the business in the event of the loss of a 'key person'. The usual solution is a term assurance policy whose sum assured should be worked out with your financial adviser.

Partnership / Director Share Purchase

Deals with protecting the families and co-owners in the event of the death of one of the partners / directors. Each party agrees before hand the value of his or her share and a combination of term assurance policies and legal documents are put in place to ensure that in the event of a partner or shareholders death, the remaining co-owners have a sum in place to buy out the family of the deceased for a fair sum.

Business protection can be especially important to smaller companies whose reliance on key individuals for profit may be greater than large corporate.