Coverage built around the advice and services you provide.
Tell us what you do, who you work for and what your contracts require. We’ll help you compare the right liability, property and cyber options.
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WHO WE INSURE
Professional firms we place.
Every firm type below is placed by a HIFA commercial broker. Not listed? Still worth a call.
Accountants
Accountants
Advice that costs a client money is a professional liability claim.
Consultants
Consultants
You are paid for judgement. Judgement is what gets claimed against.
Mortgage
Mortgage Professionals
Client financial files, lender undertakings and advice that has to be documented.
Financial
Financial Services Offices
Client money and client data, with a regulator interested in both.
Real Estate
Real Estate Professionals
Client money, client data, and the premises you work from.
Marketing
Marketing Agencies
Copyright, content, and claims made on a client’s behalf.
Business Services
Administrative and Business Services
Payroll, bookkeeping and back-office work carried out in a client’s name.
Other Firms
Other Professional Firms
If your firm sells advice or a service, the risk sits in the work itself.
NOT SURE WHICH FIRM YOU ARE?
Send the work, not the label.
Send your current declarations, your standard engagement terms and a short description of what your firm delivers. A broker reads the services against the wordings and comes back with what the market will do.
Want to talk now?
WHO THIS IS FOR
Is this you?
If any of these describe your business, a commercial broker is worth the conversation.
1
Professional firms whose advice carries financial consequences for clients
2
Offices holding significant volumes of client personal or financial information
3
Firms working to client contracts that specify insurance limits before you are engaged
4
A leased office with landlord requirements, and leasehold improvements you paid for and would have to replace
5
Firms with employees, contractors or associates working under your name
WHAT CAN GO WRONG
The claims we see most in professional services.
Common risks
Claims of negligence, error or omission in professional services
A cyber or privacy incident involving client information
A client or visitor injured at your office
Fire or water damage to premises, computers and office contents
Employee dishonesty or funds sent to a fraudulent instruction
Loss of income while the office is unusable
A claim arising from work performed by a contractor or associate under your firm’s name
A management or employment-practices allegation against the firm
Coverage to discuss
Crime
Business Interruption
Directors and Officers
Tenant Improvements
Availability, limits and extensions vary by insurer and by operation. A broker confirms what applies to yours.
WHAT WE’LL ASK YOU
The questions that change the policy.
An online form asks what you are. We ask how you operate before approaching insurers.
01
What services and advice do you actually provide, and what do you decline to take on?
02
What is your annual revenue, and what is your largest single engagement?
03
Who are your clients, and what do your engagement letters say about liability and limits?
04
What client data do you hold, where is it stored, and who can reach it?
05
Who works under your firm’s name — employees, contractors or associates?
06
Are there prior claims or circumstances, and do you take on United States or international work?
Rather work through these with a broker?
REAL CLAIM EXAMPLES
Two situations worth understanding.
Client alleges the advice caused a loss
A client alleges an error in advice caused them financial loss. A demand letter arrives naming the engagement, the figure and the consequence they say followed from it. Professional liability, where it is in place, may respond to legal defence and any settlement.
Illustrative only. Subject to policy terms, limits, retroactive date and exclusions.
Client information is exposed
A business email compromise gives an intruder a mailbox holding years of client files. Forensics has to establish what was reached, and notification obligations follow from that finding rather than from your own judgement. Cyber coverage may respond to response costs, notification and the liability that follows.
Coverage may depend on the security controls described at application.
WHY HIFA
What a specialist broker does differently.
We keep professional liability and general liability clearly apart
Commercial general liability answers for the visitor who trips in reception. It does not answer for the advice that went wrong. Firms are routinely sold one while believing they hold both, and the gap only surfaces when a demand letter arrives. We name which policy is meant to respond to what, before you need it.
We read your client contracts against the limits you carry
Engagement letters and client agreements often specify insurance before the work is awarded. The number written into that contract is the number you will be held to, whatever your renewal happened to carry. We check the wording, the required limits and the additional insured language, and flag anything your programme cannot evidence.
We size cyber to the data you actually hold
For a professional firm the real cyber risk is the client data you hold and the obligations that attach to it, not the hardware. We work through what information sits where, who can reach it and what notification would involve, rather than attaching a default limit to your revenue band.
WHAT AFFECTS THE PRICE
Two professional firms doing similar work can price very differently.
What affects your premium
Type of professional service offered
Annual revenue and number of professionals
Value of office contents and leasehold improvements
Volume and sensitivity of data handled
The size of your largest single engagement
Limits your client contracts require you to evidence
Claims or circumstances reported in recent years
Whether you act for United States or international clients
What to have ready
Details of professional services and qualifications
Standard client engagement terms
Value of office equipment and improvements
Current IT security controls
Annual revenue and your largest single engagement
Headcount, including contractors and associates
Loss runs or a claims history from your current insurer
Your lease, including its insurance clause
WHERE WE WORK
The western GTA.
Professional offices across Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga and Hamilton — downtown suites, business parks and shared office space.
Common questions
What professional firms ask.
What is the difference between General Liability and Professional Liability?
Do I need cyber insurance if everything is in the cloud?
Does my landlord's insurance cover my office contents?
What does business interruption actually cover?
Can I get a single package policy for my office?
READY TO TALK?
A professional office programme matched to the work you actually do.
Send us what your firm does, your revenue, your engagement terms and what client data you hold. A broker comes back with options and the wording behind them.
Want to talk now?