The International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs (IG P&I Clubs) is an unincorporated association of not-for-profit mutual insurance associations that collectively provides marine liability cover for approximately 90% of the world's ocean-going tonnage. It is an institution that provides Protection and Indemnity (P&I) insurance, which covers third-party risks like oil spills, cargo damage, and crew injury, which traditional marine insurers were reluctant to cover.
The Group's history dates back to 1899, when six Clubs, known as the London Group of P&I Clubs, created a claims sharing agreement called the "Pool". This mechanism was established to solve the problem of providing high-level, cost-effective liability coverage for shipowners. The Group was formally known as The International Group of P&I Clubs (IGP&I) as of 1982.
The core mechanism is the Pooling Agreement, which allows the member Clubs to share large claims and arrange collective reinsurance. Under this system, each Club retains a certain amount of risk (e.g., US$10 million for the 2025/26 policy year), and claims above this amount are shared among the Group. For very large claims, the Group purchases a single, massive reinsurance policy called the Group Excess of Loss (GXL) cover. For the 2025/26 policy year, the GXL cover was US$2 billion excess of US$100 million, with a limit for oil pollution of US$1 billion.
The Group connects to international bodies like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), where it represents the views of its shipowner members on new Conventions and legislation affecting liabilities. A recent change for the 2026/27 policy year involved expanding Layer 3 of the GXL from $600 million excess of $1.5 billion to $850 million excess of $1.5 billion, reflecting a shift back toward higher levels of pool claims activity. The underlying mutual system and the Pooling Agreement remain the constant foundation of the Group's operation.