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Claims Newsletter Thursday 1st June 2023

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Claims News

Prestige Underwriting has joined BGL Insurance’s own brand motor panel. Customers of BGL Insurance will gain access to the managing general agent’s solution for non-standard and niche risks, including modified and high-performance and imported vehicles, as well as poor driving history and motoring or criminal convictions. Prestige joins a panel featuring BGL’s own brands, Budget Insurance, Dial Direct, Zenith, Geoffrey and Jaunt, which provide a range of motor and home insurance products, and Markerstudy Group behind it. (Mark Dugdale, 22/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'Prestige Underwriting brings niche motor product to BGL Insurance motor panel')

Sedgwick has launched a new business to support the claims handling services it already provides to the national insurance and corporate markets. A separate entity within Sedgwick, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Sedgwick Legal Services will focus on first-party property claims and recoveries, with plans to expand into casualty, motor and other specialist lines. Partners Paul Squires and John Hinton, who are both seasoned litigators and trusted advisers to clients in the insurance sector, will lead the new business. (Mark Dugdale, 3/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'Sedgwick launches legal services business')

Facebook owner Meta has been fined €1.2bn (£1bn) for mishandling data when transferring it between Europe and the US. The Ireland-based Data Protection Commission found that the company’s actions effectively breached GDPR regulations. The punishment follows a legal challenge brought by Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy campaigner, over concerns that European Facebook users’ data is not sufficiently protected from US intelligence agencies when it is transferred to the US. (Staff Reporter, 23/5/2023, CIR, 'Meta fined €1.2bn for breach of EU data rules')

​Mitie has bolstered its risk management and business continuity credentials through the attainment of ISO 22301, the international standard for Business Continuity Management Systems. The certification demonstrates that the firm's risk management function has the appropriate level of expertise in business resilience that meets international standards and recognises its ability to help maintain the critical operations of its customers and partners in the event of a major disruption to business operations. (Staff Reporter, 18/5/2023, CIR, 'Mitie bolsters risk management credentials')

​Specialist insurer Beazley has streamlined its miscellaneous medical liability insurance product for both the US and London markets. The cover provides protection for medical professional liability exposures arising out of a wide range of healthcare-related businesses. This includes the more complex risks that can fall in the grey area of healthcare – such as search and rescue providers, humanitarian aid organisations and social services. (Staff Reporter, 16/5/2023, CIR, 'Beazley upgrades MiscMed product')

​Global re/insurance group Chaucer has signed up to the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance. John Fowle, CEO of Chaucer, said: “Chaucer is proud to be a signatory of the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance which provides a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities. The framework plays a key role in ensuring all signatories are held to account and deliver the four PSI principles, including meeting net zero targets. Becoming a signatory reaffirms Chaucer’s commitment to playing a leading role in accelerating the transition to a net zero economy and helping our partners become more sustainable businesses.” (Staff Reporter, 12/5/2023, CIR, 'Chaucer signs up to the UN PSI')

​Aon has gone live on PPL Next Gen. The go-live has started with over 450 colleagues within Aon UK’s commercial risk divisions covering all lines across its marine, financial and professional services, natural resources and construction teams. The company says it plans to onboard several hundred more staff in the coming months across its risk capital capabilities across its reinsurance solutions’ facultative and commercial risk solutions’ property, casualty and crisis management teams. (Staff Reporter, 11/5/2023, CIR, 'Aon goes live on Next Gen platform')

​WTW has launched a new trading solution designed to connect commercial insurance underwriters and brokers. It is hoped that the ‘many-to-many’ digital platform will improve the performance of today’s fragmented market by offering a fast-track route to trade more easily and at lower cost. Neuron has the capability to connect multiple broker and insurer systems, enabling risks to flow at scale and with common data standards, across multiple lines of business. (Staff Reporter, 2/5/2023, CIR, 'WTW launches Neuron platform')

​An insurance fraudster who tried to claim £54,000 for 40 years’ worth of gardening was found fundamentally dishonest by a judge and added to the insurance fraud register. NFU Mutual, the commercial insurer that provides cover for the company, considered the claim to be exaggerated and dishonest and counter-fraud investigators at the insurer uncovered social media posts that suggested the woman’s injuries were less severe than she claimed.(Emma Ann Hughes, 24/5/2023, Insurance Post, 'NFU Mutual catches fraudster who tried to claim £54K for gardening')

Matthew Doughty, CEO of Insurance at DWF, has revealed the legal and business service provider is looking to grow by doing more end-to-end business with existing clients, attracting new insurers and hiring more partners “from competitors”. From the start of this month, the structure of DWF has been overhauled into: Commercial Services – combining the commercial legal advisory teams with business services, including global entity management, forensic accountants, ESG consulting and regulatory consulting; Insurance Services – combining the insurance-focused legal and business services under a single leadership team; Legal Operations – alternative legal services provider, delivering services including discovery, contract management, compliance, legal technology, consulting and knowledge management.(Emma Ann Hughes, 15/5/2023, Insurance Post, 'DWF bosses reveal growth plan following restructure')

While property and motor claims’ post-Covid difficulties have begun to ease, the latter in particular are still presenting challenges to insurers, according to Zurich UK Chief Claims Officer James Nicholson. Speaking to Insurance Post at the British Insurance Brokers’ Association conference in Manchester, he reflected on how the length of claims processes had been stretched out during and after the height of the pandemic. “Property was the one that was struggling most because of the delay of materials. It wasn’t so much the cost of materials as just the impact of Covid. Motor was lagging,” Nicholson said.(Harry Curtis, 17/5/2023, Insurance Post, 'Insurers continue to grapple with rising costs for vehicle repairs')

Latest data from the Compensation Recovery Unit shows the number of motor claims has fallen to its lowest level ever for this quarter of the year, but the claimant body believes this is due to people not claiming. Data obtained through a freedom of information request submitted by Matthew Maxwell Scott, Executive Director of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations, showed that 93,989 claims were made in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 97,099 claims made for the same period in 2022 and 155,860 for the first quarter of 2020, just before the pandemic.(Pamela Kokoszka, 4/5/2023, Insurance Post, 'Motor claims fall to lowest ever level for Q1')

Mergers and Acquisitions

​UK-based consultancy, Specialist Risk Group, has acquired TLO Risk Services. Specialising primarily in the legal sector, TLO provides insurance solutions to a wide range of firms and individuals that provide professional advisory services, including barristers, law firms, arbitrators and mediators, as well as accountants, investment agents, surveyors and estate trustees.(Staff Reporter, 16/5/2023, CIR, 'SRG acquires TLO Risk Services')

Movers

Allianz Personal Chief Executive Officer Steve Treloar is stepping down from his role. He will remain at Allianz until 30 June and the process for appointing a successor is already underway, according to the insurer. Treloar became Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Personal in 2021 after the insurer brought its UK personal brands under one roof. Allianz also revealed that UK Chief Financial Officer Fernley Dyson is also stepping down on 30 May. His replacement (subject to regulatory approval), Ulf Lange, is currently head of the business division for global lines and Anglo markets at Allianz SE.(Mark Dugdale, 26/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'Allianz Personal CEO to depart')

Former Zurich Insurance Executive Franziska Meyer has joined software provider omni:us. Meyer, based in Germany, brings extensive experience in claims management, IT systems, and process optimisation to omni:us., and was most recently Head of IT General Insurance Claims at Zurich Insurance. (Mark Dugdale, 30/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'Former Zurich Insurance exec joins omni:us')

Medical negligence and personal injury business Fletchers Group has appointed Kate Edwards as its Director of Private Client and Court of Protection. Edwards, who joins Fletchers from Simpson Millar, will oversee the group’s work on behalf of clients who lack the mental capacity to make decisions about life planning and financial management due to a serious injury or medical negligence. (Mark Dugdale, 23/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'Fletchers appoints director of private client and Court of Protection')

Law firm HF has appointed an experienced Litigator as its Chief Operating Officer. Partner Michael Rimmer, who has a wealth of counter fraud insurance litigation, will be responsible for overseeing operations across the entire insurance and commercial law firm.(Mark Dugdale, 4/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'HF appoints new chief operating officer')

​In further news...Law firm HF has onboarded 21 new people to its rapidly growing recoveries department based in its flagship head office in Media City, Manchester. The hires take HF’s total number of people in the specialist area to more than 100, making it one of the largest teams in the field, according to the law firm.(Mark Dugdale, 24/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'HF onboards 21 new people in its recoveries team')

Davies has appointed Jen Morrissey to the newly created position of Group Chief Operations Officer. A seasoned Senior Executive Officer, Morrissey has more than 20 years of experience leading global strategic information technology and operations in the risk management and professional services sectors.(Mark Dugdale, 17/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'Davies appoints group chief operations officer')

British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) Chief Executive Steve White will step down from a role he has held for 10 years in the second half of 2023. White confirmed during his speech at the annual BIBA Conference in Manchester that he will retire when he leaves the association, whose board has formed a sub-committee to determine the process in selecting his replacement.(Mark Dugdale, 10/5/2023, Claims Mag, 'BIBA chief exec Steve White to retire later this year')

All information provided in this Market Digest has been gathered from Claims Mag, CIR and Insurance Post.