INSURER INSIGHT
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The Coronavirus has highlighted how underprepared the world was for a global pandemic. It has impacted all aspects of our lives, as well as how businesses operate, including those in the insurance sector and their clients. A survey conducted by the CII showed the reality of how it has affected policyholders, revealing that six out of 10 insurance professionals in the UK have been contacted by customers who are struggling to afford their insurance payments. The question is, can you ‘pandemic-proof’ the industry and what measures can be put in place to better protect the public going forward? We spoke to some of some of our Strategic Insurer Partners to gain a better understanding. Russell White, Director of Distribution at Ageas, believes that “the industry itself has been pretty resilient”, but that we all need to work together to support UK businesses. “We haven’t been exposed in the way that leisure or hospitality industries have. Clearly, one of the challenges the pandemic has highlighted is around policy wordings and customer expectations of the policy they have purchased, as is evident in the current FCA BI test case going through court,” he continues. “As one industry, we need to lean-in, respond to the decision of the court and proactively discuss how we stop this happening again – and continue to work on ensuring that customers clearly know that the product selected or recommended meets their needs.”
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When asked what initiatives Ageas has in place to ‘pandemic-proof’ its business, Russell adds, “Our current thinking includes a permanent change in attitude to different ways of working, so that we can sustain the agility and flexibility that we’ve accrued over the last few months – responding to needs, if we have to reflect another lockdown situation. We will also be designing and building products that are flexible enough to respond to customers’ needs, even under these extreme circumstances.” What can we do to bolster the industry in the future? “Feedback from our brokers and customers points to video-connections being the new normal – and we believe this is an opportunity to strengthen the insurance industry’s relationships with vulnerable consumers in particular,” says Russell. “To answer that feedback, we’re creating a new Video Account Management Team for broker partners who don’t currently have a face-to-face Ageas Account Manager; they will be able to offer everything that an Account Manager would do in an office.” Russell adds, “For the short and long term, we and our peers do need to recapture the confidence of brokers and the public generally – everyone should take time to review and reassess their Business Continuity Plans through COVID eyes, and be confident in delivering improved, technology-driven business as usual.” During the pandemic, NIG has kept its focus on customers and “has shown flexibility on policy terms and conditions to respond to their emerging needs”, says Sonya Bryson, Managing Director.
