Over the past 30 years, interest in fiduciary liability insurance has grown, due in part to the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, in which the employee takes on the risk of investment losses, Slevin says.

In responding the , 45% said they had purchased fiduciary liability insurance, up from 37% a year earlier.

(DDI), a human resources consulting firm based outside Pittsburgh, has had fiduciary insurance since the late 1990s, says Helen Wylie, corporate administrator. "We were becoming a bigger company, and needed to grow (our insurance coverage) with the times," Wylie says. "We've never had a claim, but we're very happy to have the coverage." The policy would protect DDI, its trustees and its executives if a claim was made alleging a breach of fiduciary insurance.

Given the many sizes of plans fiduciary insurance policies can cover, trying to pin down even a general cost range for a policy is almost impossible. Still, most experts say coverage is reasonable. "It's very affordable in terms of an overall insurance budget," Zeutzius says. And, "without it, you're leaving the personal assets of key people in the organization exposed."