Going for gold Vero had a “best ever” claims target, and was rewarded with victory at this year’s Mansfield Awards By John Deex
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wo years ago Vero made plain to its staff that it was aiming for a “best in class” claims service – and the aspiration and associated hard work paid off in July when the insurer was presented with the Gold Mansfield Award for overall excellence in claims. The Mansfield Awards, named after the English Lord Chief Justice who introduced the concept of utmost good faith to the insurance process in 1766, are organised by Insurance News and LMI Group. This was the fourth year of the awards, and the first to be held online, attracting a national industry audience. More than 2300 survey responses were received ahead of this year’s awards as part of the adjudication process. Unlike most awards focused on the insurance industry, companies and individuals are not invited to make submissions. NSW state insurer icare and Steadfast have sponsored the event each year since it was launched in 2017, making possible an event that has filled a vacuum in recognising excellence in claims. While COVID-19 meant that the traditional awards presentation had to take place via webinar, the awards themselves were considered too important to fall victim to the virus. Category winners were Allianz (personal lines), HCi (SME property and casualty), FM Global (corporate property and casualty) and GT Insurance (specialty). Vero Executive Manager Commercial Property and Specialty Claims Luke Whenman accepted the Gold Mansfield on behalf of 250 team members at the Suncorp-owned insurer. EGM Claims at Suncorp Michael Miller told Insurance News Vero’s victory was a sweet success after the efforts made by the team. “We want to deliver a best-ever claims service. That is what we’ve been aspiring for two or three years,” he says. “We talk about the Vero claims promise, internally and externally. We make it very clear in terms of what we are trying to do.” Mr Miller says brokers and other partners were consulted “to really understand what brokers wanted from a claims service from a commercial insurer”, before the
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claims promise was crystallised into three elements. “The first is expertise,” he says. “We need to have people who know what they are doing, and when brokers lodge claims they can get expert advice. “Next is the service element. I look after all claims – motor, home and the commercial area. The thing that strikes me around commercial insurance is that the brokers use us time and time again, whereas with home it’s once every 20 years and motor once every 10 years. “So it’s really important that we have a consistent service going to brokers. We’re investing in people, in technology as well. We’re also trying to settle SME claims first touch under $10,000, to just make it as smooth as possible. “We also know that we need to be flexible for our broker clients, in terms of how we fulfil and pay out claims.” The third point is culture – something Mr Miller says cannot be emphasised enough. “Our job is to absolutely pay out within the terms of the agreement, but we need to look at each case individually, with an overlay of fairness and compassion. “The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has a very clear view on fairness for customers which I think is a really good way for a business to set itself up – to have that fair lens on top of what we are doing.” Applying fairness is particularly important on claims that could go either way, Mr Miller says. He likens such claims to a window in a wall. “If it’s in the middle of the window there’s no judgment there and it’s covered by the PDS. If you have a claim on the wall clearly outside the window that’s not a claim. “But if you look at the edge of that window and a claim is sitting there just on the edge, that’s where the judgment is really important in terms of intent, and what the circumstances are, really understanding the customer’s point of view. “In the end our job is to pay within our product disclosure statement. We can’t cover things that aren’t covered. But we try and work with our broker clients and customers to make sure that if it’s around the edge of that window we have a good hard look at it and make sure we are being fair.”
