The burgeoning cannabis market is creating pressure on the insurance industry to develop products that address risks emerging from increased legalization. AAIS Commercial Lines Product Manager Joe Jonas shared his insights on the market during the 2021 Business Insurance Cannabis Update. Mr. Jonas was joined by Charles Pyfrom, CMO at CannGen Insurance, and host Gerrit Nagarwalla, CPCU from Canopius, for a discussion on ‘Claims, Policy & Underwriting.’

The panel discussed a range of pressing topics in the cannabis insurance sector including market growth despite federal illegality, risks for underwriting, and the challenges that come with insuring cannabis, among many other topics.

Mr. Jonas reviewed what AAIS went through to develop AAIS CannaBOP, which was built
on the foundation of AAIS’s standard Businessowner’s Policy (BOP) product. Mr. Jonas shared real-world examples of the steps and process to creating CannaBOP, citing the challenges and opportunities in creating a policy for a new and somewhat controversial market like cannabis.

The panelists stressed the importance of language and rule standardization across policies, and the current challenges preventing such standardization, including a lack of coherent knowledge across the industry, a shallow pool of carriers, and much more.

AAIS was a Silver Sponsor of the 2021 Business Insurance Cannabis Update. To learn more about the current successes, challenges, and updates in the Cannabis Insurance Industry, watch a replay of the session here.