ILC ARTICLE

ILC Breakfast News – Wednesday 2 March

1st March 2022

Motor

Usage-based insurance here to stay 

The demand for usage-based insurance is set to surge, according to Adam Clarke, Chief Underwriting Officer and Executive Champion for ESG at Ageas. 

He said hybrid working has reduced the number of miles being driven regularly, and while electric vehicles are reducing the environmental impact of driving, motorists will still be conscious about using their cars unnecessarily. He says that with the cost of living also rising sharply motorists will continue to turn to usage-based insurance to reduce costs. 

Rehabilitation processes unchanged by OIC 

Despite the introduction of the Official Injury Claim portal, arguably the greatest structural and regulatory change to low value injury claims in motor insurance, the presentation, frequency and cost of rehabilitation treatment claims has not changed. 

Mark Hall, Director of Strategy – Motor Personal Injury, Keoghs, said the status quo is likely to remain for some time yet after the Ministry of Justice confirmed that although it did look at signposting rehabilitation treatment in the OIC portal, the process for a represented claimant would be ‘as now.’ 

EVs surge despite downturn 

UK car production slumped by 20.1% to 68,790 units last month, down 17,262 units on January 2021. According to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, this is the weakest January since 2009. 

However, the shift to electric vehicles continues to accelerate with production rising 37.6% to 6, 326 last month. That means zero emission vehicles accounted for one in 11 cars made in the UK, and that rises to 27.4% if including hybrids and plug-in hybrids. 

Copart continues green revolution with offices 

Copart UK has opened a new eco-friendly office building in Bristol as part of its ongoing Plan-Net-Zero sustainability commitment. 

The new environmentally friendly office building in Bristol will now be a blueprint for the company’s wider strategy of upgrading and replacing offices at its other operation centres. 

Meanwhile, Copart teammates across its 19 UK locations dressed in red to support the 10^th ILC Day on 14 February in support of  Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity. 

Home

Parametric policies likely to become standard 

With natural hazards and weather catastrophes on the rise, CoreLogic has suggested ways that insurers might seek to better predict and underwrite risk. 

It predicts that parametric insurance programmes, which set claims payouts according to predefined levels of damage, will become widely adopted. Insurers are also likely to adopt next generation climate-adapted risk models which use artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies to project future losses, while expanding pricing incentives to better protect policyholders and reduce losses. 

Zurich warns of extreme flood risks  

Research by Zurich UK has found that flash floods fuelled by the climate crisis threaten more than two-fifths of businesses in London.  

It has found that of London’s 301,000 commercial buildings, 42% are at risk of being hit by surface water flooding. The borough of Kensington and Chelsea was found to have the highest percentage of buildings at threat of flash flooding (63%), followed by Hammersmith and Fulham (56%), Merton (54%), Southwark (54%) and Wandsworth (53%).  

Directory of flood insurers launched 

The Association of British Insurers (ABI), the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), and Flood Re have collaborated to create a new directory of specialist flood insurance providers. 

The Flood Insurance Directory is a comprehensive list of specialist firms able to support households seeking flood cover. It has been launched in response to the growing frequency of extreme weather events. 

Claims Consortium Group among UK’s ‘Best Companies’  

ILC partner Claims Consortium Group has been listed as the fourth best insurance company to work for by Best Companies.  

It ranked fourth in the national league table for insurance company’s, while also finishing 24th in the Best Company to work for in the South West, and 60th in the Best Large Company to work for.  

Jeremy Hyams, founder and CEO of Claims Consortium Group, which owns Synergy Cloud and WeatherNet, said: “Making the experience of working at Claims Consortium the best it can be, has long been a passion of ours.”  

Burt named new QuestGates director 

Specialist loss adjuster QuestGates has appointed Anna Burt to the newly-created role of Operations Manager, Specialist Services Division. 

She joins from Howden, where she was Executive Director, UK Claims, and will initially be responsible for overseeing the continued growth and development of the agricultural teams at both QuestGates and its subsidiary business, Hyperion, which is set for further expansion after the recent acquisition of Focus Claim & Risk Management. 

Lawson named DASA director  

DASA has named Pete Lawson as Business Development Director. His chief focus will be promoting the services of the Stockport-based drainage and leak detection specialist to the insurance industry.  

Chris Edwards, Managing Director, said, “Over the past four years, we have expanded our operations welcoming many new insurance industry clients. Our staff numbers have also increased by over 100% and we have plans for further growth over the next year. Pete will help us to expand our reach even further promoting our widely regarded deliverability, reduction in costs and sustainable solutions.”  

Industry braced for red diesel ban 

Construction firms are facing another devastating hike in costs when it becomes illegal on 1 April to use red diesel to fuel plant and machinery. Instead, companies will either have to buy equipment that runs on alternative power such as electricity or hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO), or switch to standard white diesel. Red diesel is standard white diesel that has been treated with a dye to indicate it is rebated and therefore subject to a lower rate of tax. 

ClaimsTech

Travelers on the tech path 

The Travelers Companies Inc has announced the acquisition of Trōv. 

Trōv is a leading insurtech that in recent years has led the transformation to on-demand insurance, claims chat and micro-duration polices, and has recently launched an embedded insurance platform, public APIs and developer support tools  

Most members of Trōv’s team have also joined The Travelers Companies Inc, which serves the motor, homes and commercial sectors. 

Insurance sector believes in Nirvana 

New US-based insurer Nirvana Insurance is promising to revolutionise the commercial fleet insurance industry after securing more than $25m in funding, including $22m in a recently-closed Series A round. 

It will collate and interpret data from billions of telematics data points such as speed, location, driving behaviour, traffic and weather to understand driving risk in real-time. 

Policyholders can also benefit from value-added services such as driver training, which can lead to a 20% discount up front. 

Verisk confirms Infutor acquisition 

Global data analytics provider Verisk has acquired Infutor, a leading provider of identity resolution and consumer intelligence data. It will integrate Infutor with its 2020 acquisition Jornaya to create Verisk Marketing Solutions. 

Matt Lohman, Managing Director of Verisk Marketing Solutions, said, “We are committed to continually increasing the value we deliver to our customers. Bringing Infutor and Jornaya together immediately offers CMOs and marketers a holistic solution for modern, effective and responsible data-driven strategies and programs.” 

Market News

ABI to ‘double’ apprenticeships  

Members of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) have committed to double the number of apprenticeships across the insurance and long-term savings sector to 2,500 by 2025.  

Members will offer apprenticeship opportunities to school leavers and upwards to promote the sector to those who might not have considered it, further career opportunities will be introduced outside of London, while members will increase access and inclusion by increasing the number of entry level and training opportunities for people regardless of background and experience.  

€5bn storm brewing for insurers 

Insured losses due to winter storms Dudley and Eunice have been estimated at between €3bn and €5bn, with most of the losses in the UK, Germany and The Netherlands. 

This is according to Verisk Extreme Event Solutions. 

Meanwhile, Verisk’s ISO Statistical Database has broken its growth record for the second consecutive year with an additional 47 regional, national and global insurers sharing its premium and loss records in 2022. This is up from 37 insurers in 2021. 

LV= announces board changes 

Liverpool Victoria Financial Services Limited (LV=) has appointed Suzy Neubert and Natalie Ceeney, CBE, as independent Non-Executive Directors. They replace David Barral, Alison Hutchinson and Luke Savage, who have confirmed they will step down. 

Meanwhile, LV= is also seeking a permanent chair. 

Interim Chair Seamus Creedon, said: “The process to recruit a permanent chair is also underway and we are seeking an established chair with extensive commercial and technical knowledge of life insurance or wider financial services and experience of diverse business models.”