Pool Re, the UK’s largest terrorism reinsurer, has highlighted the significant terrorism insurance gap among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with industry experts calling for terrorism cover to be reinstated as a standard feature of commercial property insurance to better protect SMEs and ensure business continuity.
The conference underscored the urgent need to drive adoption of proactive terrorism risk management measures to help mitigate potential physical and financial impacts on SMEs.
Speakers included the UK Minister of State for Security, Dan Jarvis; Jon Savell, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations for the Metropolitan Police Service; Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark; and Air Marshall Edward Stringer CB CBE. They were joined on stage by Pool Re’s CEO, Tom Clementi; Chief Underwriting Officer, Jonathan Gray; and Angela Knight CBE, Chair of the Pool Re Board.
The event also marked the launch of Pool Re’s flagship paper: The Threat Posed to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, which explores the current terrorism threat to SMEs and outlines practical steps businesses can take to manage terrorism-related risks.
Tom Clementi, Pool Re Chief Executive Officer, said, “When Pool Re was set up in 1993, our mandate from the Government was to make terrorism cover accessible and affordable for all businesses in Britain. However, with estimates that only 5% of SMEs are covered today, there is clearly some way to go. Thanks to our modernised reinsurance scheme introduced in April 2025, we are now in a position to offer our Members significant discounts to reinsure their SME portfolios where they can demonstrate they have reintegrated terrorism cover into their commercial property policies for SMEs as a matter of standard practice. If Members reintegrate cover at scale, which over time we are confident they will, the UK’s economic resilience to terrorism will have been significantly bolstered and the market will have been returned to the position it found itself in prior to the IRA’s mainland bombing campaign of the early 1990s.”
Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, added, “In an era of increasing threats to our UK security, prosperity and values, it is more important than ever that we plan to meet these challenges. Pool Re is recognised around the world for its expertise and is as much a part of our counter-terrorism architecture as the security services and law enforcement. Knowing that Pool Re is there is profoundly reassuring.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of our economy, yet their lack of terrorism cover marks a vulnerability that threatens our national economic resilience. Pool Re’s efforts in tackling this gap remain utterly essential.”
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