The Answer in 60 Seconds

A client that asks its PR, marketing or creative agency for professional indemnity is protecting itself against the liabilities the agency's work brings into its business. An agency's work is words, images and advice that go out in the client's name. If a third party brings a claim against the client over a campaign - that it was defamatory, or used someone's intellectual property - the client's contract with its agency decides whether the claim passes back to the agency, and the agency's professional indemnity is what answers it. Singapore insurers write this cover for agencies: Chubb's covers "any claim for civil liability in the conduct of the business", lists defamation and intellectual property infringement, and names public relations consultants and advertising agents among the businesses it insures (Chubb). Public liability does not answer it: an insurer's public liability wording excludes liability that a professional indemnity policy covers (Etiqa). And no policy answers every promise: in SYT Consultants v QBE Insurance [2022] SGHC 251, liability taken on by agreement that would not have attached without it fell outside a professional indemnity policy.

The Sourced Detail

What professional indemnity covers for an agency

Two Singapore insurers' own pages set out the cover. Chubb: "Broad insuring clause covers any claim for civil liability in the conduct of the business", with "Defamation" and "Intellectual property infringement" listed, for businesses that include "public relations consultants", "advertising agents" and consultants in "marketing". Allied World: cover that includes "Bodily injury and property damage cover resulting from professional services, defamation or loss of documents" and "Intellectual property infringement", for professions including "advertising agents". Each policy's own wording decides the detail.

Why the client asks

The client is the name on the campaign. Its contract with the agency is where it passes liability back - an indemnity or hold harmless clause - and the agency's insurance is what is meant to stand behind that promise. A client asking for the agency's professional indemnity in a tender is checking that, if a claim over the agency's work lands on it, there is an insurer behind the agency's share.

Why public liability is not enough

Public liability answers injury to people and damage to property. The same insurer's wording excludes "any legal liability ... which is indemnifiable under a professional indemnity insurance policy" (Etiqa). A campaign that harms a third party's reputation or uses its work is a professional indemnity matter.

Where the cover stops

Insurance answers the agency's legal liability, not every promise its contract makes. In SYT Consultants v QBE, the policy covered contract and duty-of-care claims but "does not extend to cover any liability assumed by You under any express warranty, guarantee, representation, hold harmless agreement, indemnity contract or similar agreement unless such liability would attach in the absence of any such agreement", and the claim failed because the insured had not proven the liability would have attached without its agreement (at [78] and [82]). An agency that signs an indemnity wider than its legal liability can find the difference uninsured.

Common Mistakes

  1. Relying on public liability for creative work. The wording leaves professional work to professional indemnity.
  2. Assuming every PI policy lists defamation and intellectual property. Some insurers list them in the cover; the policy you hold is the one to read.
  3. Signing the client's indemnity unread. What the contract promises and what the policy answers are two different lists.
  4. Buying from an unchecked intermediary. A broker's registration can be checked in MAS's Financial Institutions Directory.

What This Means for Your Business

If your agency bids for corporate work, the professional indemnity request is the client protecting itself from your campaigns. Know what your policy says about defamation and intellectual property, read the client's indemnity clause against it, and close the gap before you sign.

Questions to Ask Your Adviser

  • Does our professional indemnity cover defamation, intellectual property infringement and breach of confidentiality arising from our work, and on what terms?
  • Does the client's indemnity clause ask us to accept liability our policy would not cover?
  • Are defence costs inside or on top of our limit, and is the limit what this tender asks for?
  • Can the policy name the client, if the contract asks?

Related Information

Published 27 October 2026. Source verified 27 October 2026.