Counterpart, the AI-driven management liability insurtech, has launched crime coverage for small businesses backed by Bermudian-based Aspen Insurance.

The policy can be purchased on a stand-alone basis or packaged with its existing directors & officers, employment practices, and fiduciary insurance lines.

The Los Angeles-based company said the crime insurance expansion reinforces Counterpart’s commitment to using its cutting-edge technology to address critical exposures of small businesses.

Counterpart said employee theft costs businesses $50 billion annually, and costs are rising at a rate of 15 per cent per year, according to the US Department of Commerce.

The new offering helps identify employee theft and social engineering perils by utilising Counterpart’s proprietary machine learning-based underwriting system, which includes employee sentiment analysis, as well as proactive risk mitigation guidelines.

Mike Levins, head of insurance at Counterpart, said: “Small businesses often lack the internal auditing and risk management capabilities of larger businesses, which can make them more susceptible to crime risk.

“Our extensive underwriting experience, proprietary data infrastructure, and increased market presence have enabled us to craft a crime product that complements our existing insurance lines.

“We are grateful for the continued support of the well-respected team at Aspen, along with many of our broker partners, who have helped us develop a very competitive product.”

Crime insurance is available for small businesses with less than 250 employees and less than $100 million in revenue and total assets through Counterpart’s wholesale broker partners.

“Counterpart has established an impressive track record of innovation,” said Zac Clammer, executive vice-president, management liability at Aspen.

“We are pleased to continue developing our partnerships with Counterpart across the growing portfolio of excess and primary small business insurance products that we are bringing to market.”