Olympics organizers still putting together 15.5-million-euro insurance package for civil liability and assets
PARIS (AFP) – Visitors, volunteers, athletes: Millions of people will flock to Athens for the August Olympics. And Games organizers ATHOC have been struggling for months to finalize an insurance budget of 15.5 million euros to cover the risk that comes with them. Four months from the opening ceremony on August 13, organizers are putting the finishing touches on a plan that covers 15,000 athletes, 20,000 officials, 1.5 million spectators and 4 million Athenians involved in the Games. The budget of ATHOC’s risk management department totals 15.5 million euros. Of that, 10.5 million euros has already been paid in insurance premiums. The Greeks handled the EU-wide insurance tender themselves, assisted by two insurance brokers, the French group Gras Savoye and the US firm Marsh. Gras Savoye has devised specific programs, such as risk identification in the construction and dismantlement of infrastructures, evaluation of the assets to be insured and the drawing up of policies in view of the offers. It is now supervising implementation of the running contracts. «That includes insurance amendments if risks change, regular information to reinsurers and legal monitoring,» explained Richard Terzan, director of sports, events and special risks with Gras Savoye. The French firm was paid 600,000 euros for the job, plus «a few peripheral, additional bonuses,» according to the broker. New York-based Marsh handled contingency planning, a technical term for evaluating risk factors. The company earned 1.1 million euros for its services. Marsh’s brief currently covers between 750 and 800 potential risk sources. The tender to insure ATHOC assets is still under way, though some contracts have already been farmed out to the insurance arms of major Greek banks. Alpha covers ATHOC personnel against accidents, the Agricultural Bank won the bid for civil responsibility and the National Bank of Greece is handling ATHOC’s vehicle insurance.
