ILC ARTICLE

ILC Breakfast News – Wednesday 9 February 2022

8th February 2022

Home & Property

Construction sector in acute ‘distress’

A new report has found that construction is the second most distressed sector in the country, with 75,825 individual companies under significant financial strain. 

Begbies Traynor has published its ‘Red Flag Alert’ for the past 15 years, which aims to highlight the financial health of UK companies. Its most recent edition has identified more than half a million companies (589,168) reporting significant financial distress in the final quarter of 2021.

Verisk unveils tech breakthrough

Verisk has collaborated with mortgage analytics firm RiskSpan to develop a new risk management solution for the housing finance industry.

Designed to measure and mitigate the risk to the sector posed by climate change, the solution brings together RiskSpan’s Edge Platform and the Verisk Extreme Event Solution, which assesses the risk from natural catastrophes and climate to a given location by providing a property-specific hazard risk metric.

Insurers unaffected by CMC shift

Davies Group says insurers have not yet been impacted by the emerging trend among claims management companies to move from motor injury claims to housing disrepair claims.

It’s understood the shift among claims companies began after The Homes (Fitness for Habitation) Act 2018 came into force in respect of new tenancies on 20 March 2019 and in respect of existing tenancies on 20 March 2020, and accelerated after reforms in the motor injury claims sector reduced potential profits. 

It is estimated that there are a million properties in the private rental sector alone that do not meet the Government’s Decent Home Standard.

CoreLogic extends solutions to Openly

CoreLogic has announced that all its claims management solutions are now available to customers of Openly, the premium homeowners’ insurance provider. This includes the Claims Connect platform, which is designed to streamline the claims process through an intuitive, integrated digital ecosystem.

The agreement should support and simplify the management of property restoration for Openly policyholders.

Motor

Register now… webinARC February 2022: Operations

Wednesday 16 February – 13.30     

In this webinARC we explore incident claims processes and repair operations by focusing on the five Ps – products, processes, plant, people and programmes – to try and piece together what the challenges and opportunities are from a variety of perspectives. 

Featuring:  

– Harry Abraham, Operations Director, Halo ARC Ltd  

– Jeff Mack, National Account Manager, NWVA  

– Jane Pocock, Managing Director, Copart UK  

– Robert McWilliams, Approved Repairer Vendor Manager, UKGI Claims, Zurich Insurance plc

AkzoNobel extends McLaren partnership

AkzoNobel has extended its 13-year partnership with McLaren Racing with a new multi-year agreement that will see the two working together in the areas of sustainability, innovation and product development. The partnership will result in new initiatives around technical collaboration, shared innovations and the exchange of personnel.

Meanwhile, AkzoNobel will remain McLaren Racing’s exclusive Official Partner: Coatings Solutions, while also becoming a Sustainability Partner.

Premium prices settle after steady decline

New research from Consumer Intelligence has found that the cost of telematics-based van insurance remained static in the last quarter of 2021. This followed a 12-month period of steady price reductions.

It found average prices are now £869, up 31.9% since April 2014. Interestingly, drivers under the age of 25 have seen premiums fall 28% in this time while drivers ages 25-49 have seen average premiums rise 50.4% and prices for over 50’s have risen 47.2%.

Otonomo announces new Audi partnership

Otonomo has announced that Audi has become the fourth OEM to join its data ecosystem in the last six months. As a partner, Audi will now provide Otonomo with GDPR-compliant access to a number of data points from its connected cars, including odometer readings and crash information, including impact location and severity.

Otonomo will make the data available through its user-friendly platform, supporting the development of innovative mobility solutions including pay-as-you-drive insurance services, first notification of loss and accident reporting.

Cost pressures starting to bite for insurance

The average price for motor insurance in 2021 fell to its lowest level in six years according to the ABI but sustained cost pressures are beginning to impact the cost of cover. 

The latest ABI Motor Insurance Premium Tracker shows that in 2021 the average price paid for comprehensive motor insurance was £434. This fell by seven per cent on 2020 to its lowest level since 2015.  

However, in Q4 2021, the average premium paid rose by £11 on the previous quarter to £440. Despite this rise, the average premium was three per cent lower than the same quarter of 2020. 

ClaimsTech

ILC ClaimsTech reveals 2022 programme of activities

ILC has unveiled a programme of digital and physical activities that will make up ClaimsTech 2022. 

Activity begins officially with a VIP launch party on 31 March. Two focused digital events will then take place in the summer before the ClaimsTech LIVE event on 15 September. Meanwhile, running throughout the year will be an ongoing industry leader interview series.

ClaimsTech 2022 – themed ‘Show me the money (and happy customers)’ – will feature key industry influencers, the latest in claims technologies and demonstrate leading-edge applications.

Descartes secures further funding

Insurtech Descartes Underwriting has secured $120m in a Series B funding round. This follows the $18.5m raised in Series A funding 18 months ago. Investment was led by equity firm Highland Europe alongside Eurazeo, Serena, Cathay Innovation, Blackfin Capital Partners, Seaya Ventures and Mundi Ventures.

Descartes Underwriting, which specialises in corporate insurance solutions that address climate and emerging risks, will use the capital to grow its technology platform, expand into new lines of business, and enter new markets.

Beazley launches digital division

Beazley has gone live with its new global digital trading division, Beazley Digital, which has been set up to provide broking partners with digital access to high volume, lower premium products.

Ian Fantozzi, CEO of Beazley Digital, said: “We can now offer access to the digital distribution channels our broking partners want to use – portals, APIs, market hubs and email. We are not looking to simply ‘digitise’ legacy systems and continue traditional line-led underwriting; instead we have organised the team so that we can offer one Beazley point of contact to access multiple lines and digital services via a selection of digital channels.”

Market News

OIC effectiveness assessed

Carpenters Group director Donna Scully has reflected on the effectiveness of the new Official Injury Claim portal, which attracted 4,331 unrepresented claimants in its first three months and settled 436 claims.

She said that a 10% settlement rate was higher than anticipated, although suggested the real number could be significantly lower if claims processed with third party assistance were removed from the calculations.

ABI confirms new Director General

The Association of British Insurers has appointed Hannah Gurga as its new Director General. She joins from UK Finance, where she was Managing Director, Digital, Tech & Cyber Chief of Staff.

She said, “I look forward to meeting with representatives across the sector to understand what makes you and your businesses tick, and to working in partnership with members and stakeholders to ensure that our sector continues to grow and to deliver for our customers and for the UK economy.”

ILC Industry Leader Interview – Kevern Thompson, Commercial Manager at CAPS

“We need to constantly review our working practices and encourage business relationships to constantly collaborate and work together on developing solutions. Cost of repair will undoubtedly increase as more complex mobility solutions become mainstream, and diverse vehicle manufacture continues to develop in a production environment.”