The policy – an insurer’s showpiece
A policy is the written record of an agreement between an insurer and the insurance holder. The oldest known policies date back to 14th-century Italy.
Policies had to meet legal requirements, detailing essential elements, such as the date, names, insured object, sum, conditions, term and premium. Both parties had to sign the document to validate the agreement. Initially, policies were written by hand with a simple design. They were created on large, unique and specially crafted paper to ensure durability and discourage loss or destruction. Policyholders were responsible for safeguarding these documents, which served as critical proof of the agreement. Replacement was rare and only issued in cases of damage, such as fire. These printed policies became the showpieces of insurance companies, complete with the logo and beautiful illustrations.
Today, the digitisation of records has transformed policies into largely standard documents, typically formatted as simple pieces of paper or digital files listing terms and conditions. The artistic craftmanship of earlier policies has mostly faded into history.
Fortunately, there are many examples of original policies in NN Group’s Historical Collection.
