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Insurance Fraud 2010

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:04:00 GMT

Hear the latest initiatives on combating insurance fraud from Aviva, Allianz, Axa, Experian, the Insurance Fraud Bureau, the Financial Ombudsman Service and others at Post's Fraud 2010 conference later this month.

Fraud 2010 is being held on the 30 September at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, London.

Programme:

9:30 - An international view of fraud, how do we compare?

Michael Koller, European risk director, Aviva

10:00 – Anti fraud structure in the UK, a closer look

Glen Marr, director, Insurance Fraud Bureau

10:30 – The Psychology of the Fraudster

Nikki Grieve-Top, claims psychology director, Crawford And Company

11:00 – Questions and comment

11:15 – Coffee and networking

11:45 – Interactive Workshops

Workshop 1: Casualty Fraud - the next big thing

Mihir Pandya, fraud manager, Allianz

Workshop 2: Tackling fraud through the civil and litigation courts

BLM speakers TBC

Workshop 3: Data sharing in the UK to prevent further fraud losses

Sue Wishart, head of member development, CIFAS

12:45 – Lunch

1:45 – Working together with the credit industry

Nick Mothershaw, director of product strategy and best practise, Experian Decision Analytics

2:15 – Treating customers fairly; the challenges of dealing with genuine and fraudulent customers

Caroline Mitchell, lead investment and insurance ombudsman, Financial Ombudsman Service

2:45 – Questions and comments

3:00 - Afternoon coffee and networking

3:30 – Tackling fraud at the front door

Seaker to be confirmed

4:00 – Panel Debate – Zero tolerance versus commercial decision making

David Williams, managing director – claims, Axa Insurance

James Norman, claims fraud manager, Tradex

Mark Beales, sergeant, Greater Manchester Police Specialist Operations Branch, Road Crime Unit

4:45 – Close of conference

Book your place now

MoJ: we will "weed out" the personal injury text pests

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:52:00 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

The Ministry of Justice has reiterated its desire to clamp down on claims management firms cold-texting people to attract personal injury work.

It follows Post's revelation earlier this year that the MoJ is investigating the rising tide of organisations sending unsolicited text messages to consumers promoting personal injury services.

The news came as it reported two hundred rogue claims management firms have now been closed by the Ministry of Justice, it has reported.

It added this highlights the ongoing success of its efforts since it was launched in 2007 to "protect customers from firms which breach rules and put their money at risk".

This includes companies who offer to help people with personal injury compensation claims and with attempts to get their debts cancelled.

As the latest statistics were released the unit reaffirmed its determination to weed out firms whose actions harmed customers, including ongoing work to cut unwanted cold-calling in person, by phone and by text message and cracking down on misleading marketing, unfair upfront fees and "cash for crash" frauds.

Kevin Rousell, the head of the unit, said: "Many of these firms provide a valued service, helping people who might not otherwise be able to afford to have access to justice.

"But there are some which mislead people or carry out various kinds of malpractice, deliberately or otherwise, and we are working hard to ensure they either bring their practices in line, or stop altogether."

In the worst cases firms who had their authorisation cancelled were involved in fraud, while others were caught using misleading marketing and aggressive sales techniques.

The latest milestone follows the announcement in August 2009 that the 100th firm had been stopped from trading.

Hurricane Earl losses could top $150m

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:42:00 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses from Hurricane Earl’s passage near the northern Leeward Islands earlier this week are between $50m and $150m.

The estimate includes wind damage to insured onshore properties in the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, St. Martin and Puerto Rico. Nearly half of the total is attributed to St. Maarten where high winds downed trees and power lines, and peeled off roofs and signage.

"Hurricane Earl, having pulled away from the Leeward Islands yesterday while still at Category 4 strength, is now a Category 3 storm as it makes its closest approach to the North Carolina coast," said Dr Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR Worldwide.

"It could arrive there as early as Thursday evening, bringing strong winds and tall waves. Some fluctuations in Earl's intensity are possible as it tracks northward, but it is likely to remain at Category 3 strength for at least 48 hours."

Parabis Group swoops for loss adjuster Carmichaels

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:38:05 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

Parabis Group has acquired a controlling stake in property specialist Carmichaels to complement its existing niche subsidiary, Argent Liability Adjusters.

Neil Ventris, Argent managing director, told Post that it had been looking for an opportunity for some time: "I met [Carmichaels managing director] Keith Curling early this year and it was quickly apparent there was good synergy and chemistry.

Mr Curling added: "Conducting marketing over the last 12 months, I found insurers liked what we did in the property arena, but also wanted a liability solution. I think Neil has experienced the same in the opposite direction. So the fit when we bumped into each other a few months ago was superb."

For more on this story see this week's Post or click here to read online.

Abbey reports 11% increase in H1 pre-tax profit

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:21:00 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

Abbey Protection has announced an 11% increase in pre-tax profits to £4.7m for the first six months of 2010.

The specialist supplier of legal and professional fees insurance products and services to UK small-to-medium sized enterprises, added revenue in core trading divisions, Abbey Legal Protection and Abbey Tax Protection, were up 11% (to £8.2m).

However, revenue from its after the event (ATE) division reduced to £0.7m (2009: £0.9m), which it said was the result of all material income from its managed run-off contracts having reached a natural conclusion.

Sales of Abbey's injury compensation product, Accident Line, were up 16%, and the company said sales of its new commercial ATE product "particularly pleasing" and ahead of expectations.

The claims ratio at Abbey's reinsurance subsidiary, Ibex, improved to 63.3% (2009:67.7%), benefiting from some early year reserve releases.

The underlying loss ratios remain stable, with a marginal increase in employment claims in 2009 being off-set by reduced numbers of tax claims in the year. Despite the continued low investment yields, Ibex increased its profit by 11% to £2.1m in the first half of 2010. This profit contribution derives almost entirely from premium written by the core divisions of ALP and ATP.

Colin Davison, chief executive officer, commented: "I'm delighted to report another solid set of results for Abbey Protection, which once again underline our ability and resilience to grow the business against a tough economic backdrop and the continued low interest rate environment. Our non-cyclical business model has enabled us to produce sustained organic growth in group revenues and profits during the period.

"We continue to investigate the acquisition of complementary businesses and are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities likely to be afforded by the deregulation of the legal services sector in 2011."

Post Magazine – 02 September 2010

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:16:51 GMT

Tracey Jones Postonline

The latest issue of Post magazine is now available to subscribers as a digital interactive e-book.

Post in print - 2 September 2010

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:18:00 GMT

Tracey Jones Postonline

Post reporter Amy Ellis outlines the main news from this week's issue of Post.

To access this week's, and any previous issues of Post Magazine in its online format you will need to be a subscriber.

If you are not already a subscriber to Post, you can register for a free trial subscription to Post Magazine and postonline.co.uk.

You can also register to receive Post's daily or weekly email alerts allowing you to keep up with all the latest developments in the general insurance industry as they happen.

Imperial records spike in claims volume

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:03:14 GMT

Mairi MacDonald Postonline

Imperial Consultants has recorded a 25% increase in incoming claim volumes received from its UK insurance clients for the year ending August 2010.

The strong results follow a 28% increase in the previous financial year ending August 2009. Managing director, Ian Hogarth commented: “The continued growth in incoming claim volumes from our insurer clients at a time when the majority of our competitors are seeing reduced volumes due to a lack of weather related claims, clearly demonstrates the confidence our clients have in Imperial. The market we operate in is highly competitive, however we have been able to demonstrate and clearly evidence where we can assist Insurers in the validation and settlement of their property damage claims.”

He added: “More and more insurers and underwriters are seeing the significant financial savings that are achieved by separating the validation of a property claim away from the company or loss adjuster that generates revenue from any subsequent repair work.

“When insurers see the financial savings we achieve, combined with the positive claims experience and short claims lifecycle we deliver to their customers, our service proposition is very attractive to them.”

Accident Exchange seeks to de-list after restructuring credit facility

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:56:00 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

Credit hire operator Accident Exchange is to convene a general meeting to propose a resolution to approve the cancellation of admission of the ordinary shares to trading on the London Stock Exchange.

It follows the news that it expects discussions with Morgan Stanley, its senior lender, concerning a restructuring of the company's existing £40m credit facility, to result in fewer than 25% of its ordinary shares being in public hands. This would mean the company no longer meets the requirements of Listing Rule 6.1.19R for its shares to remain listed.

The firm is seeking to amend the terms and extend the current repayment date beyond 30 September 2010.

In a statement it added: "Those discussions continue to progress and whilst the detailed terms have not yet been finalised and the company continues to trade with the ongoing support of its senior lender, the company has reached agreement in principle with its senior lender to amend the terms of the senior facility to, inter alia, extend the repayment date until July 2013 on an amortising basis."

Accident Exchange said it currently anticipates that the circular containing the notice of such meeting will be posted to Shareholders on or before 10 September.

It added the circular will contain more detailed information on the expected timing of the effective date of cancellation of the admission of the ordinary shares to trading on the London Stock Exchange and to admission to the Official List.

Penny Black's insurance week

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:51:00 GMT

Penny Black Postonline

Penny had a pleasant lunch at the RAC Club last week with one of her esteemed market contacts and was taken aback to hear their car had been stolen and they were having problems getting their claim paid by none other than Aviva. But that was only half the story. Apparently, the motor had been thieved with a job in mind, well four jobs to be exact, all involving armed robbery.

Law report: Both sides rapped over request for information

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:49:00 GMT

Staff Postonline

This law report has been contributed by national law firm Berrymans Lace Mawer.

Law report: Paraplegic given interim payment for accommodation

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:49:00 GMT

Staff Postonline

This law report has been contributed by national law firm Berrymans Lace Mawer.

Law report: Furniture company director found liable for breach of trust

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:49:00 GMT

Staff Postonline

This law report has been contributed by national law firm Berrymans Lace Mawer.

Broker focus - Premium liability: That boat has sailed

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:49:00 GMT

Rachel Gordon Postonline

With the publication of Issues Paper Eight in July, the Law Commission set about addressing an anomaly that applies to marine insurance, which makes brokers responsible for paying their clients' premiums to underwriters. Rachel Gordon explains why it could be time for change.

View from the top: Time to share fraud data

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:48:00 GMT

Richard Davies Postonline

Industry fraud statistics are normally presented as a good news story. Last year, insurers stopped 122 000 frauds, preventing payment of a huge £840m.

Admiral has a dig at scaremongering rivals

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:47:00 GMT

Staff Postonline

Admiral has achieved the "dream scenario" of growing policy volumes and margin in the first six months of 2010, according to chief operating officer David Stevens.

IAG defends ERS in face of report

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:47:00 GMT

Staff Postonline

Australian insurer IAG has defended its UK business Equity Red Star, insisting it will return to long- term profitability.

Ecclesiastical blames Chilean earthquake for pre-tax loss

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:47:00 GMT

Staff Postonline

Ecclesiastical has revealed that exposure to the Chilean earthquake was predominantly responsible for its £9.9m pre-tax loss for the first half of 2010.

Argent confident over deal for rival adjuster

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:46:00 GMT

Staff Postonline

The man charged with overseeing the integration of loss adjusters Argent and Carmichaels has insisted the merger will succeed where similar deals have faltered.

Tree root damage claims cost over £37m

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:43:00 GMT

Amy Ellis Postonline

The public risk management association, Alarm, said that the issue of subsidence damage to property and the cost of related claims, where tree roots are seen as the main cause of the damage, is one that concerns many of its members, particularly those in the south of England.

Alarm said that 16 authorities in the South-East recently collated claims data from the last seven years, revealing over 5000 notified incidents of subsidence, where trees had been implicated in the damage.

The cost of these claims is estimated to be in excess of £37m, which includes outstanding claims of around £24m; amounts which will place significant strain on local authority resources at a time when major savings have to be made.

Whilst there are variations between individual authorities, extrapolation of the data would suggest that the total cost for all local authorities in the UK could be several hundred million pounds for the same seven year period.

Alarm said that of additional concern to local authorities is the increasing use by insurers of solicitors under ‘no win, no fee’ conditional fee agreements, which allow a success fee of up to 100% to pursue recovery of their outlay on subsidence claims. This practice can add thousands of pounds to each claim against a local authority. It could be argued that in doing this, insurers are making use of legislation that was actually introduced to provide the ordinary man in the street with access to justice.

Alarm said it is assisting its members to highlight these issues with the government, the courts and the public and to draw attention to an imbalance that currently exists in the law applying to such claims against local authorities, in the hope that action will be taken to redress it.

In discussion with property insurers and their representatives acknowledgement has been made that the situation is somewhat unfair but while the law allows insurers to make these recoveries and use solicitors in this way, they argue that they have an obligation to their shareholders to do so.

A spokesperson for the Alarm subsidence group said: “If the current dry weather continues local authorities could be facing yet more claims at the cost of millions of pounds to council tax payers and yet there is very little they can do to prevent them. In the current economic climate this could have very serious consequences for local authority budgets and services.”

Rok to create 50 new jobs after £40m Axa contract win

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:23:51 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

Rok, the maintenance and building services group, has signed a contract with Inter Partner Assistance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Axa Assistance to provide home emergency services to its UK customers.

Rok said it anticipates this contract leading to a significant increase in the volume of home emergency claims it handles with an expected contract value of £40m over three years

Rok's 24-hour contact centre in Mansfield will handle the service delivery across the country. The new contract will create 50 new jobs at Rok.

Commenting on the contract win, Rok's chief executive, Garvis Snook, pictured, said: "This contract win is a significant success for Rok's maintenance and improvements division and for the group as a whole. It reinforces Rok's position as number one in the buildings insurance repairs and emergency market.

"Rok and Axa Assistance have formed a long term strategic partnership to provide a best in class home emergency service".

Bob Ewers chief executive, Axa Assistance UK added: "We are very excited about our new partnership as it gives us the ability to manage the customer journey from the first notification of loss, supported by Rok's nationwide office network. The combined strengths of Axa Assistance and Rok, the directly employed technicians, common IT platform and culture of our two organisations make this a market leading proposition."

Rok to create 50 new jobs following £40m Axa contract win

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:23:00 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

Rok said it anticipates this contract will lead to a significant increase in the volume of home emergency claims it handles, with an expected contract value of £40m over three years.

Rok's 24-hour contact centre in Mansfield will handle the service delivery across the country. The new contract will create 50 new jobs at Rok.

"Rok and Axa Assistance have formed a long term strategic partnership to provide a best in class home emergency service".

Exclusive marine content now available on Post Europe

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:04:00 GMT

Stephanie Denton Postonline

In Post Europe's latest "View from the Top" article RSA’s Richard Turner predicts what the major talking points will be at the at the International Union of Marine Insurance conference taking place in a few weeks.

Despite some issues in the market with an over-supply of shipping and the Deepwater Horizon incident having an impact for some time, he says it is not all doom and gloom for the sector and insurers can do a lot in terms of environmental impact to help make a brighter future for all.

Post is dedicated to the European general insurance market and we will be providing news, analysis, comment and features focused on different territories. To receive your personal update on all the recent European insurance news, sign up for Post Europe Alerts.

View from the Top - Meeting the challenge of a new decade in marine

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:55:00 GMT

Richard Turner Postonline

The International Union of Marine Insurance holds its annual conference in Zurich this September, where it will be debating the common theme of ‘Meeting the challenge of a new decade’.

Last year, the conference contemplated the depth of the economic downturn and its impact on world trade, with thousands of ships laid-up without work. In the intervening period, a glut of largely unwanted vessels (ordered well before the downturn) has been churned out by shipyards. The over-supply of shipping is likely to continue for some time, depressing freight earning capacity and leaving some ship owners struggling to service their loans.

Pressure point
Twelve months on, it would not be unreasonable to expect Iumi to bear out the extent of this downturn by reporting a dip in global marine premiums for the 2009 year of account. With reduced premium in the marine market, it is easy to imagine the consequent pressure on the insurance industry.

However, it is not all doom and gloom. A better trading picture is emerging this year: having dropped by 7% in 2009, global container volumes are predicted to grow by 8%, with a further 7% rise estimated for 2011.

Deepwater impact
Yet the patchy economic recovery is not the only challenge confronting Iumi delegates this September. The energy insurance market will no doubt spend years grappling with the myriad of legal battles emanating from the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster. A difficult Gulf of Mexico windstorm will cause further problems for offshore energy insurers (and reinsurers), just a few years after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

The political climate for marine insurers has rarely been more challenging. There is an ongoing piracy threat to shipping, not just in Somalia, but in many parts of the world. It will ultimately fall to governments to find solutions to these problems, but in the meantime, it is our customers who are caught in the middle.

Sanction challenges
Additionally, the recent escalation in the deployment of trade sanctions has placed marine insurers (and brokers) in a pretty difficult position. The insurance sector will clearly want to do the right thing by public policy, but is hampered by the fact that too much detail in these regulations seems to be being left to future interpretation by the courts. Regulators need to work more closely with the insurers to spell out what they expect the industry to do, so insurers can respond properly to what is being asked of them.

Finally, it seems that the 'environment debate' will increasingly take centre stage. The next decade will highlight the growing impact of climate change, with a need for the insurance sector to do its bit to manage it, and yet trying to do the right thing can bring its own risks. While ships move towards greater use of low sulphur fuels, many of the engines on these vessels were not manufactured with this fuel in mind, this could cause problems further down the line. It is indicative of how seriously marine insurers view the concept of low sulphur fuel that the whole of the conference's ocean hull workshop has been devoted to debating this topic.

Groundbreaking speech
And for the first time, Iumi will welcome a guest speaker from RSA's partner the World Wildlife Fund to challenge insurers' thinking about its role in combating climate change. Who would have predicted such a speaker making a keynote speech at a marine insurance conference even a decade ago?

Much, then, for IUMI to ponder...

Richard Turner is global marine director at RSA, chairman of the marine technical committee of the International Underwriting Association and head of the UK IUA delegation to Iumi.

Mobile Doctors reports fall in profit and turnover in H1 2010

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:07:00 GMT

Jonathan Swift Postonline

Mobile Doctors Group has reported a fall in revenue to £12.61m (2009: £14.06m) for the six months ended 31 May and profit before tax to £298 000 (2009: £667 000).

It added gross margins for the period remained steady at 22.4% compared to 23.0% in 2009, whilst overheads as a percentage of revenue are consistent with 2009 as a result of continued management focus.

Mobile Doctors added it continues to operate "comfortably within its working capital facilities, although debtor days have increased as a result of the reduction in sales". Long-term loan repayments of £395 000 were made in the period.

Commenting on the results, Matthew Game, chief executive officer, said: "During the period our operational delivery, sales and margins have preformed to expectation and continued in a steady and consistent manner.

"After an exceptional start to 2009 the market has experienced a small decline in the claims incidence resulting in a reduction in instructions from some of our major customers. Management's strategic focus is unchanged with continued focus on driving efficiencies from Business Process Outsourcing."