Insurance People May 2016

insurancepeople

Henry Engelhardt See pages 5 & 8 Making the workplace a happy place Insurance People inside include:

Henri de Castries James Denison Alex Cruz Farmer Robert Gothan Fraser Kyne Peter Staddon James Truscott

rance “The Insu ith ew Magazin ty�

Personali

Cover artwork: Carol Newman

issue 63 May 2016

Contents - May 2016 insurancepeople

The times are a’changing

2

Late News

3

Market talk

8

Take Five Henry Engelhardt, Admiral

Legacy spreadsheets

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Robert Gothan, Accountagility

he times are a’changing – fast, offering the insurance sector both opportunities and threats. This month we focus on some of the latter – threats that only came into existence in the immediate past, and are still evolving as we speak:-

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data breach and the world of Trojans and malicious hacking

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data loss – the regulations are tightening up, with punishing fines for the careless

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insurance staff now being targeted by the criminal underworld and tempted with large bribes for sensitive customer data

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the sheer size of today’s mass of data which now questions the suitability of legacy spreadsheets

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and, that golden oldie - ‘gold-plated’ regulatory overkill

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James Truscott, Cardinus

Gone but not forgotten Lombard General Insurance

Reg Brown

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The Postcard Emporium

On the move Who’s going where?

cyber crime, the cyber attack, and the need for robust systems to counter this threat

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Modern risk surveying

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News Review

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Cyber attack? “Robust systems!” says Fraser Kyne

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How about ‘shopping-around’ for cost-effective regulation, suggests Peter Staddon

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5

On the Road

Data loss regulation is tightening up, says Alex Cruz Farmer

n the plus side, there’s a splendid example on page 8 of the opportunities open to modern management that simultaneously recognise both the value of staff and customers.

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www.insurancepeople.uk.com

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Robert Gothan asks if spreadsheets are up to today’s job

Editorial

Design & Production

Commercial Director

insurancepeople

Andrew Newman FCII, Dip.M e: andrewnewman@talk21.com t: 01892 730539

Adrian Susman e: adrian@insurancepeople.uk.com t: 07981 993974

Jeni Hall e: jeni@insurancepeople.uk.com t: 07969 510172

PO Box 537 Tonbridge Kent TN12 9WG t 01562 862990 m 07981 993974 e info@insurancepeople.uk.com

Cover artwork: Carol Newman Printers Pensord Magazines & Periodicals, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith,Blackwood NP12 2YA Editor and Publisher

Consultant Editor

Commercial Director

Production Director

Andrew Newman

Brian Susman

Jeni Hall

Adrian Susman

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ISSN 2043-9202 Insurance People is published monthly by Buttermere Wedge Publishing Limited.

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Reproduction in whole or in part without prior permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Late News Chartered status for Broker Direct B roker Direct has announced that it has been awarded Chartered Insurer status by the Chartered Insurance Institute., a function it is empowered to perform by the Privy Council.

Terry Stanley

Terry Stanley, chief executive of Broker Direct comments, “We are so proud of this achievement, which is further evidence of our commitment to professionalism and excellence. It makes

clear to our brokers, policyholders and insurer partners that we know what we are doing and are focussed on delivering quality across the range of products and services we offer. It also demonstrates the commitment of our staff, who have qualified as part of this process.

Sian Fisher ACII, CEO of the CII, adds, “Broker Direct is clearly committed to developing the insurance profession and we are delighted that they have achieved Chartered Insurer status. This announcement offers further evidence that managing general agents are alive to the benefits of professionalism, both as a driver of competitive advantage and as an important means of building confidence and trust in the insurance sector.”

“People focus” vital in M&A

Risks of driving with poor eyesight

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early half (42%) of insurance companies recognise the critical importance of cultural integration and of hiring and retaining employees to the overall success of a deal, according to a survey of senior insurance executives conducted

by Willis Towers Watson M&A Risk Consulting in conjunction with Mergermarket.

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The research shows that the respondents focus on top-line growth as the measure of success for acquisitions. The extent of revenue and commercial synergies (62%), return on capital (55%) and financial synergies (48%) are the most frequently cited factors. However, the research also highlights that only 12% use employee engagement as an indicator of integration success.

The study reveals that 13.3 million motorists are risking their lives and the lives of other road users by driving with poor eyesight as a result of not wearing their glasses or contact lenses with a fifth (21%) of respondents saying they always drive without them.

Steve Allan, EMEA M&A practice leader at Willis Towers Watson, says, “Employee engagement and customer experience have a known link to improved financial performance, so it is disappointing that employee engagement does not feature more prominently among deal-success measures. Unaddressed cultural clashes are the most cited reason for deal failure which, without proper measurement warning signs, may be overlooked and could ultimately lead to a deal failing to deliver on its promise.”

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ew research from Direct Line shows that motorists who need glasses or contact lenses but don’t wear them whilst driving, increase their chance of an accident four-fold. One in six (16%) drivers have had an accident in the past two years but this increases to 67% for those who need glasses or contacts but don’t always wear them.

More than a third (37%) of motorists claim they haven’t had a vision test in the past two years or more, despite good eyesight being a basic requirement of safe driving.

Gus Park, director of motor at Direct Line comments, “Driving with poor eyesight is illegal and can be as dangerous as drink driving. If caught, you risk invalidating your insurance, receiving a fine and in some cases, risk imprisonment. Remember also, that if your eyesight is below decimal 0.5 (6/12) measured on the Snellen scale, or you have an eye condition such as cataracts, you will have to inform the DVLA. Drivers must also be able to read a car number plate from 20 metres - if you are asked to read one and cannot, your licence may be revoked and you could be prosecuted.”

late news

Market talk

in association with:

Andrew Newman, Editor

AXA CEO to move on

Risk management surveys go hi-tech

De Castries to step down at AXA he news that the chairman of the AXA management board and chief executive officer Henri de Castries will leave his full-time role at AXA (or Axa as the business news sheets prefer to designate it) in September arrived late March. A long server, he joined AXA back in 1989. But the business pages were more interested in where he might be going, putting the chairmanship of HSBC bank in the frame, whose board he recently joined.

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I enjoyed the pleasure of meeting Henri in 2005. It was at a press invite to a marvellous venue - Université at Suduiraut, near Bordeaux, which Axa owned at that time.

The trip was over two days, with a tremendous amount of material freely shared – too much in fact to be condensed into a single report.

Henri de Castries

Looking back at my notes made on that occasion I see Henri shared his insights on the gender discrimination issue which a decade later was enforced under its own gender EU directive. When asked

Henri de Castries Chairman of the Axa Management Board and CEO Born in 1954 in Bayonne, France he obtained a law degree and later joined the French Finance Ministry auditing government agencies. In 1984 he joined the French Treasury department playing an active role in several privatisations before being appointed to oversee foreign exchange markets and balance of payments for the Treasury. After joining Axa's corporate finance division in 1989 he enjoyed various senior roles including overseeing the North American and UK operations and became chairman of the Axa management board in 2000. for his views on the potential prohibition of discriminatory rating factors like gender, Henri said, “Go down that path and you end up with everyone paying the same rate, regardless of risk. That’s plainly a false idea.

Discrimination in insurance is legitimate as long as it is based on statistics.”

On regulation: “Strong players should not be worried by regulation. It takes people out of the market that perhaps should not be there. It has a cost of course, but that is something the industry has to live with.”

Indigo platform at Cardinus n his article on page 11 James Truscott, managing director of the Cardinus risk management property and insurance division, highlights the use of technology when it comes to risk management surveying.

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Not only has the technology transformed the efficiency of the actual on-site survey, it has revolutionised the whole process, making it faster and more efficient and backing up delivery and tracking.

I asked James about Cardinus’s own platform called INDIGO which was developed last year. “The creation of INDIGO has been very much about creating a better experience for everyone – the policyholder, the insurer, and the broker.

“I wanted to recognise how business dynamics have changed over the last few years and create a ‘cradle to

Market talk

grave’ solution for the instruction and tracking of insurance risk surveys by insurers. It would include interactive assisted policyholder participation in risk improvements. Harnessing technology into the risk survey area provides much greater access to information and flexibility.

“INDIGO is a centralised, secure platform with everything in one place, and every aspect of the whole process takes place within it. It replicates each customer’s organisational structure within the system, and allows individual access as appropriate.

“It offers a complete departure from the traditional delivery of risk surveys, with the main improvement being the smooth integration with the rest of the risk improvement programme, right through to completion.

There are also links to approved organisations and ‘Live Help’ where further assistance may be needed.”

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 3

Market talk New review of PI terms?

Cyber crime on the march ardly a day goes by without a cyber crime report of some kind. On 15 April 2016 it was revealed that researchers at IBM had discovered a new piece of malware that had stolen $4m from over 24 American and Canadian banks in just a few days. The hackers apparently combined code from two malware types, known as Nymaim and Gozi, to create GozNym, a Trojan described as “both persistent and powerful”.

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And if that jargon means anything at all to you – you’ve probably picked up the wrong magazine!

Fraser Kyne

But cyber crime is a serious problem and Fraser Kyne, regional SE director at malware

protection specialists Bromium says this latest incident is yet more proof of the inadequacy of existing defences, and the futility of detection. “These attacks will continue to grow, as they clearly work. Unless we move towards robust systems that can protect themselves by design, then we will continue to operate in a world where we are woefully ill-equipped to defend ourselves.

“The only meaningful model of defence is hardwareisolation through virtualisation. It’s not theoretical - it’s real and it’s already being used to provide robust protection for the enlightened organisations who realise that it’s the only practical way forward. These businesses will see these types of attacks, and simply shrug and say, ‘this won’t hurt us’.”

Bromium was founded in 2010 and is based in California with a research & development centre in Cambridge, UK. See www.bromium.com

AIG aggregation clause case nsurers could be dissuaded from taking part in the solicitors’ PI market following the judgment in the AIG Europe Ltd v OC320301 Court of Appeal aggregation clause case which took place on 14 April, 2016.

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This could also conceivably lead to another review of the SRA Minimum Terms & Conditions for professional indemnity insurance according to James Denison, a member of the professional indemnity SFT at the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) and associate at Weightmans.

The case addressed whether multiple claims against a firm of solicitors that give rise to a claim against the firm’s professional indemnity insurance policy should be aggregated – i.e. treated as a single claim. This would cap the insurer’s aggregate liability by the policy’s limit of indemnity, rather than each claim separately. In this case, the outcome was the difference between AIG facing claims of £11m around failed holiday property schemes, instead of a £3m single claim limit.

The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s August 2015 ruling that insurers cannot aggregate multiple related claims when the terms of the transactions are not conditional or dependent upon each

4 insurancepeople MAY 2016

other, therefore allowing AIG’s appeal.

James Denison: “The Court of Appeal’s judgment confirms suspicions that matters and transactions need not be dependent on each other to be related for the purposes of clause 2.5(a)(iv) of the James Denison solicitors’ minimum terms, contrary to the first instance decision of Teare J. “Qualifying insurers may welcome the decision for that reason alone. However, transactions must still be ‘intrinsically related’ for the clause to bite, and that remains a narrow test.

“The Court of Appeal’s construction of clause 2.5 may therefore dissuade insurers from taking part in the solicitors’ PI market and could conceivably lead to another review of the SRA Minimum Terms & Conditions for professional indemnity insurance.”

Market talk

in association with:

New EU data rules

EU data protection law passed ontinuing the theme on the previous page, it’s also true that hardly a day goes by without a data breach report of some kind. The European Parliament passed the final vote for the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 14 April 2016. Alex Cruz Farmer, VP of cloud for the international business division at global network security solutions provider NSFOCUS (founded in 2000) advises that these approved new data protection rules will strengthen online privacy; streamline legislation between the 28 member states; and boost police and security cooperation. “Notably, the regulation includes tougher penalties for companies in breach of EU data protection law, with fines of up to 4% of global turnover, and a requirement for companies to disclose personal data breaches within 72 hours.

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"This is a great step towards the regulation of data loss, creating a penalty for businesses who choose to not invest

DDoS is short for distributed denial of service DDoS is a type of DOS attack where multiple compromised systems (often infected with a Trojan) are used to target a single system causing a denial of service (DoS) attack. Victims of a DDoS attack consist of both the end targeted system and all systems maliciously used and controlled by the hacker in the distributed attack.

The difference between the two forms of attack is that the DoS attack typically uses one computer and one internet connection to flood a targeted system or resource. The DDoS attack uses multiple computers and internet connections to flood the targeted resource, often on a global scale.

in proper security,” he adds. “As we have seen through the first half of 2016, significant data breaches have impacted over 100 million people worldwide, including affecting governments.

The Netherlands set the standard by enforcing fines to businesses who were victim to data Alex Cruz Farmer breaches and, with this now being a standard for the entire EU, will make businesses finally consider the real cost and impact of their decision to not put security as their number one consideration around their IT and Data strategy."

Alex highlights the best way for financial service institutions to detect and prevent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in real time is through a multilayered DDoS protection system, which will:l

filter malicious traffic (largely HTTP) targeting financial services applications

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filter malicious traffic targeting TCP applications to ensure that server and network bandwidth is not exhausted

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mitigate application layer attacks designed to compromise systems and steal information

Prior to joining NSFOCUS, Alex was technical director for C4L, where was responsible for the cloud, connectivity, and voice strategies.

See www.nsfocusglobal.com

Brexit – new licences for old? he interview with Henry Engelhardt, CEO at Admiral appears on page 8 this month. During that conversation I asked Henry about the potential Brexit.

Would it have an adverse effect on Admiral’s operations abroad in Canada, the US, Spain and France?

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“Well, it could do,” he says. “Licences and regulation would be the big thing. As everybody else is saying, it’s not clear if it’s going to be a hard exit or a soft exit. Being a European initiative, Solvency II could be abandoned in theory, but after all the work that everybody has put into it… is it better to run with it?

Market talk

“Will we get to passport our licences in, as we do now, or do we have to get some more licences? In the US we’re used to that sort of thing – we have to get new licences. The regulation is completely separate from Europe. So to me that would probably be the biggest issue.

“I guess moving people around might be a problem.

Right now it’s very easy if we want to bring somebody from our Spanish office to work in the UK, or someone in the UK work in Italy. That might become more difficult.”

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 5

Market talk Memories of the Lombard

Lombard - gone but not forgotten t was a natural ‘no brainer’ that the cricket-themed Lombard General ad from the archive revived on page 15 would stir a few memories from people who worked there.

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Former employee Jamie Marchant writes:-

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The photo in the 1996 ad on page 15 relates to Lombard's three-year sponsorship deal with Kent CCC. That was probably one of the market's first such arrangements outside of the old Cornhill sponsorship.

Lombard General was born out of Lombard Continental (LCI), that emerged from Lombard Elizabethan (LEI), that itself evolved from Elizabethan. Messrs Bright, Condon, McCracken, Laing and Clarke led LEI and LCI before four of them left to form Independent Insurance as part of a management buy-in of Allstate.

Andy Laing (far right in the photo) stayed at Lombard and when Continental made the business non-core shortly thereafter, he led the insurance market's first MBO of an insurer to form Lombard Insurance Group. The group subsequently floated successfully on the London Stock Exchange, before being acquired

by Groupama. Groupama subsequently bailed out state-owned GAN in France and then merged the two UK assets (Lombard General and GAN) to form Groupama Insurances under Tony Lancaster.

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From right to left: Andy Laing, John Lever (Essex CCC and England), Brian Susman and the rest of the Lombard six-a-side squad in 1988 6 insurancepeople MAY 2016

And IP’s own in-house cricket correspondent Brian Susman recalls the Lombard cricket sponsorship with affection:Brian Susman writes:-

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I enjoyed the fruits of Lombard’s sponsorship of Kent CCC on several memorable occasions thanks to the kind folk at Lombard, and in particular Andy Laing (general manager) — a cricket nut and member of the first ever insurance Celebs CC side in 1996. He invited me to spend a day at Canterbury as a member of the Lombard squad as part of a six-a-side event at the Canterbury ground during Chris Tavare’s benefit year in 1988.

That meant that I enjoyed the undoubted privilege of playing on the famous ground with the big tree within the playing area. Each of the participating teams from various local businesses was assigned a professional for the day - ours was the famous John (J.K.) Lever, an England opening bowler in his heyday.

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Vindication time!

A s a long-time advocate for insurance companies to deploy employee engagement as an integral tool for improved financial performance, it was very uplifting to interview someone this month who had actually put it into practice in a highly successful way. That interview appears on page 8.

Steve Allan

And now another endorsement on this topic arrives from Steve Allan, EMEA M&A practice leader at Willis Towers Watson (See Late News on page 2).

“Employee engagement and customer experience have a known link to improved financial performance,” he states. Proof positive that the ‘people’ factor has always been one of the industry’s trump cards, although as Steve points out there’s still 88% of insurance companies who have yet to integrate this.

Market talk

in association with:

Time to ‘shop around’ for cost effective regulation?

Markel extend biomedical range

MGAA responds to FCA fees proposal s there an alternative if regulatory costs become too high? That question is posed by Peter Staddon, managing director of the Managing General Agents' Association. Commenting on the recent publication of the Financial Conduct Authority's proposed fees as part of its annual funding requirement, he says, “Whilst we welcome any reduction in the fees paid

by MGAs, the total regulatory bill including FSCS levies and consumer credit fees that most MGAs and brokers are facing is increasing and the average authorisation cost in the UK is still likely to be higher than other jurisdictions.

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“We all want a regulator who understands our market and wants to see it succeed and be able to compete on a European - if not a global - stage. But when you see lower regulatory costs in other territories, then it does raise questions.

“We have to avoid creating barriers that stifle innovation and increase cost. We believe that

regulation is now part of the MGA’s DNA but the overall regulatory cost, coupled with continuing ‘gold plating’ of EU directives is making the UK insurance industry a harder place to do business in. Ultimately this Peter Staddon will lead to higher costs for the consumer, which could raise issues when it comes to the FCA’s value for money.

“Maybe we should reflect what the FCA says to consumers about shopping around for insurance. If the regulatory costs are too high, should we be looking for an alternative?”

Markel upgrade biomedical cover arkel UK has extended the range of its biomedical and life sciences product to the food supplement and cosmetic markets. That’s a fast growing sector according to Simon Webster, product line manager, life sciences. “This sector provides us with a variety of exposures which require bespoke underwriting. We aim to provide specialist cover for a broad range of companies operating in the UK, including some micro and start-up businesses paying premiums as little as £250 through to those larger risks with premiums in excess of £50k.

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Simon Webster

Market talk

“The product will now cover businesses that manufacture, distribute and supply products such as vitamins, minerals, food supplements, medical foods, weight management formulas and herbal products. It will also cover a whole variety of cosmetic products ranging from

everyday hygiene products, such as cleansers, to beauty products such as lotions, creams and make-up.”

Markel’s biomedical and life sciences policy offers a range of protection including public and products liability, professional liability, products financial loss, employers’ liability, property damage and business interruption, D&O, entity and transit.

“Products liability cover includes failure to perform, which is particularly important for these types of risks,” adds Simon. “Markel have been successfully underwriting businesses within these sectors in their US and Canadian operations for over a decade, so are well placed to understand the potential exposures that are involved.”

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 7

Henry Engelhardt CBE CEO, Admiral Group Plc

Take Five In a manner no different to 99% of the rest of us, an insurance career captured Chicago-born Henry Engelhardt, rather than his actively seeking it himself. He studied journalism, but worked at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Having married French-born Diane – they met as students – they both quit their jobs and travelled around Asia for six months.

The “Eureka!” moment came while they were away. No, not to go into insurance, but to enrol on an MBA course in France to promote a career switch AN: Since the time when you cofounded Admiral in 1991 and launched in 1993 I’m pleased to recall that our paths crossed occasionally at various industry social functions. A “new arrival” as a CEO in UK personal lines, your management style seemed very refreshing. For example, your relations with employees, at a time when some insurance CEOs still lived in ivory towers. No “good mornings” – and private entry and private elevators were not unknown!

HE: Employee relations tie into some simple beliefs. If people like what they do, they’ll do it better.

And if people do what they do better, then there’s a better economic outcome.

It’s about understanding what makes people motivated at work.

And it’s not watching their bosses sit around in a corporate dining room.

That’s a negative motivator for most people. So get rid of the dining room. Watching your boss pull up in a company car – again that’s not a big motivator. So get rid of company cars.

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You’ve got to keep honing in on what really gets you to where you want to go. It’s not about CEOs. It’s about the thousands of people we have talking to our customers at this very second. That’s what is really important. So you’ve got to tailor your management approach to that.

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All staff should feel as valued as possible

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AN: And that tailoring includes relaxed, down-to-earth management methods. (Your desk is on an open plan floor, I believe?). And there’s a "Ministry of Fun"?

HE: The "Ministry of Fun" is a team dedicated to organising social activities for staff. It’s all part of a commitment to make Admiral a

"fun place to work", where all staff feel as equal and valued as possible.

I want the workplace to be a happy place. Why work in an unhappy office? It comes back to the simple philosophy - if people like what they do, they will do it better. Or to put it another way - have fun, satisfy customers, make money. And if people are unhappy at work, if they are brooding or jealous, it doesn't help you get things done.

AN: Tell me about "Ask Henry"?

HE: That’s simply a facility where Admiral staff can email me direct through the company intranet.

Having a CEO who is accessible to everyone in the company is important – and is probably a reason why Admiral features in the ‘best companies to work for’ ratings.

AN: From the outset you also took a strong view on customer relations. I see recent Admiral advertising indicates that customer care is just as important – perhaps more so – as product specification.

take five

HE: Everything we do should have a positive economic return. That’s why we do it, and if you treat your customers really well, they come back. They buy the products and services. They tell their friends and it all leads to better economic outcomes.

AN: Getting back to the development of your earlier career as outlined at the start, armed with your MBA you chose to live in the UK. And car insurance was certainly NOT on your agenda?

HE: I wasn't particularly happy with France, and Diane wasn't keen at going back to the US, so the UK was our compromise. And car insurance wasn’t on my radar – it sounded too boring! I did some consultancy, but was drawn to an ad that I had seen several times that just said “financial services". I applied… it was car insurance! But I got the job and found that insurance was an incredible industry. I spent two years at Churchill, and was headhunted by a managing agent at Lloyd’s of London to launch Admiral with co-founder David Stevens.

AN: And at Admiral you decided to ignore the intermediary market and go direct. Was that decision shaped by the “cut out the middleman” theme currently being banded at that time?

HE: Yes. That’s what I’d seen at Churchill. What we did differently was target higher premium business.

It was simple economic sense. We decided that we were not going to follow the ‘mainstream’ market, but would initially focus on higher premium business such as young drivers and high performance cars.

So we had an economic advantage right off the bat. If brokers take a percentage on a £1,000 premium, they get £150 while on a £300 premium in the mainstream it’s £45.

We reckoned that if we could keep our marketing costs within the £150

take five

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has always been fairly streamlined.

You don’t have any corporate “treacle” bogging you down?

‘Corporate treacle’ slows down initiative

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we had an economic advantage – it’s easier to keep your marketing costs within £150 than it is at £45. Plus, of course, the broker receives commission every year, while we only have to pay that marketing cost up-front, one-time.

AN: Yes, the non-standard v. ‘careful drivers’ conundrum. Higher premiums, but bigger claims. You had to get your underwriting right, but also choose your moment to enter the market at the right time in the cycle.

HE: Correct. But that’s where the luck came in. After a few years of adverse results in the car market, by 1993 prices were rising by 20-25% and in we walked. No back-book and no liabilities to weigh us down.

AN: Talking about being weighed down, your management structure

HE: We try to have as little of that as possible. We try to keep it to a minimum. There is now a fairly big corps that runs the business. Our international businesses are individual operations, with 3-4 people at the centre. More than that, I just feel not only slows down what they can do, but slows down their initiative to get things done. We have done well to manage the cycles and grow the business and maintain profitability.

AN: So, May 2016. Somehow I can’t believe that you are going to retire and put your feet up.

HE: I’ve been pulling back slowly from the UK business for the past four or five years to manage our overseas operations. I hand over the keys to David Stevens on 12 May 2016. But I’ll stay involved. I’ll be looking after all our price comparison operations, and otherwise helping David wherever I can.

I’ll probably be working down to one third time, and after that… we’ll see.

That’s what makes it all so exciting for me… the uncertainty of it all!

Cardiff –a great place to be AN: We were nearly neighbours! I’ve just learnt the likelihood of our earlier meetings could have been increased had Admiral proceeded with a plan to base itself in Brighton - an edifice in Preston Park just a few doors from where I worked.

HE: Yes, we were looking for somewhere within two hours of London. But there were grants about and although we sent ten applications to various cities, Cardiff was the only one we ever heard from. We were very impressed by the co-operation from the South Glamorgan County Council (as it was at the time) and the then Welsh Development Agency.

AN: I guess that investment by the Welsh capital turned out to be a good one?

HE: Yes. They gave us a grant for one million pounds, and so far we have put over one billion pounds back into the local economy and that’s growing at more than £100m a year. Cardiff has been a great place for us to be.

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 9

Robert Gothan

Are spreadsheets the best tool for the job?

CEO and Founder, Accountagility

Legacy spreadsheets – beware!

As the demands for financial accounting accuracy increase, Robert Gothan warns of the dangers of reliance on spreadsheets that may be beyond their shelf life T departments within insurance firms are now looking at more data than ever before. The introduction of the Solvency II directive in particular has resulted in some insurance firms being unable to cope with the sheer levels of data required for their solvency reporting, with out-dated technology most certainly playing a part in the difficulties faced during this process.

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Up until now, insurers relied upon pages upon pages of spreadsheets to manage this kind of data, but filing solvency returns has revealed the inefficiencies of this approach, leaving many firms uncertain of the next steps.

Solving Solvency II and beyond Solvency II undoubtedly has (and will continue) to place an enormous stress on IT departments who are already too busy to review their current business processes, let alone consider how they can be improved.

Our recent research with 200 CFOs demonstrates that a substantial 73% of insurance firms are concerned with their over-reliance on spreadsheets.

Excel remains the main automation tool in the finance function, yet this beguiling technology is often fraught with hidden errors, only discovered once a spreadsheet is thoroughly audited. With so many firms finding faults in their spreadsheets, insurers must therefore question whether spreadsheets are actually the best tool for the job.

Alleviate spreadsheet stress Established insurers are finding it difficult to keep up with the new kids on the block, particularly in terms of technology. The continuing transformation of the finance department has not been matched by widespread progress in financial technology, leaving many firms still heavily dependent on tools that could be over three decades old.

This, combined with a myriad of other issues - the stock market downturn; concerns about another credit crunch; and increased M&A activity resulting from Solvency II has left some insurance companies facing a perfect storm.

Research also found a staggering 86% of insurance CFOs have reported faults when using spreadsheets over the past year. It’s clear that these cumbersome tools are not working as efficiently as they should be.

Of course, it’s not just Solvency II which is facing inefficiencies with spreadsheets. Processes such as planning, month-end cycles, calculating reinsurance, and any form of data analysis are often conducted using workbooks that may contain hundreds of tabs, thousands of different calculations, and millions of data elements.

When looking to upgrade, firms can be reassured that the familiarity of legacy systems need not be removed entirely, but enveloped with modern, fully-automated systems which utilise spreadsheet-like technology, rather than traditional spreadsheets themselves. In fact, 88% of insurance firms are looking to go down this path.

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This approach is crucial for easing the transition into these new tools with familiar technology and spreadsheet-like systems, those dealing with data sets will feel far more in control, and also be able to maintain productivity without needing to be entirely retrained in new technology.

The employee legacy In some ways, insurance firms also need to consider previous employees as another type of legacy. In many cases, many workbooks have been written by employees who may no longer be at an organisation, since the insurance sector is no longer the ‘job for life’ that it once was.

There is no de-bugger tool for spreadsheets. The only solution to finding hidden errors is to work through calculations piece by piece – a time-consuming job that’s likely to elude even the most dedicated teams.

Calculations are usually tailored to a specific individual, and some may be several lines long, leaving finance departments with the unenviable task of running the calculations and keeping their fingers crossed if a fellow employee has left or been promoted.

For all these reasons, the task of grappling with spreadsheets in the finance function can seem like the journey of a captain traversing an iceberg-ridden ocean. What people can see on the surface is very different from the dangers hidden underneath. As the research shows, insurance firms are wary of this outdated and inefficient tool, and many are now looking to implement more modern approaches in order to compete and thrive in the current market.

updating financial technology

James Truscott Managing Director Cardinus Risk Management Property and Insurance Division

Subject to survey James Truscott explains how risk control surveying technology is assisting policyholders, brokers and insurers

With everything in one place, all aspects of the ordering, administration, survey booking, reporting and policyholder interaction with risk improvements can take place within a centralised, secure platform.

nly a few days ago, I found myself asking a colleague to ‘roneo’ a document rather than ‘scan’ it. The laughter that ensued was entirely at my expense, but it got me thinking about technological advancements in my lifetime (including scanners!) and how we use some of this technology in modern day business.

Structured question set templates can be created within the platform for many survey types, including commercial combined, package, property owners, high net worth, liability, contractors all risks and sprinkler, with derivatives for specific trade sectors.

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As you might already sense, I could not - in any respect - be regarded as a ‘techie’ even though I lead a division of a software-based risk management company which focuses in online solutions, coupled with expert on-site surveying.

The key for me is to provide tools for customers which add value to their business and make their lives easier.

And it is in the area of risk surveying that technology has promoted simpler, faster and more efficient solutions, modernising the way in which risk surveys are ordered, tracked, and delivered. dvancements in technologies have transformed the way in which businesses operate. Colleagues can stay in touch from different locations, and within different working hours by using email and other online collaboration tools.

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However, as much as the advancement in technology enables us to perform certain tasks more efficiently with greater flexibility, it also comes with perceived pressures.

Instantaneous solutions - such as email - promote instant responses, which is not always best for the user or their business.

When I think about our business, I encourage my sales team to focus on their customers during core hours of the day, and to deal with certain administrative tasks outside these times.

I expect our customers and their policyholders are no different in their desire to run their business as efficiently as possible, without the sort of interruptions to their working day which takes their focus away from the main task. he ideal platform to support the instruction and tracking of insurance risk surveys by insurers should aim at a ‘cradle to grave’ solution to include interactive assisted policyholder participation in risk improvements, all of which recognises how business dynamics have changed over the last few years.

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risk management surveys

The structured nature of reporting can incorporate risk scores to ensure consistency across the whole survey team, and deliver excellent, reportable and immediate management information for customers.

Such platforms can provide in-built hierarchies and permissions enabling a customer’s organisational structure to be replicated within the system and allowing individual access appropriate to role. ut there is more to it than just departing from the insurance industry’s conventional delivery of risk surveys. That’s because the advantages provide a complete step change, improving the process right the way through.

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Risk improvements can be emailed to policyholders and copied to relevant stakeholders, including brokers.

Policyholders (or other stakeholders acting on their behalf) can use links to view each risk improvement, and then advise the action taken to complete.

Automated reminders keep the policyholder engaged in the risk improvement programme, and thank them when the improvements are completed – or give a nudge when further action is required.

Of course, it’s important not to remove the human factor.

Hence the provision of speedy help and guidance where and when required.

When Ray Tomlinson invented email in 1971, he was quoted as saying, “I see email being used, by and large, exactly the way I envisioned. In particular, it's not strictly a work tool or strictly a personal thing. Everybody uses it in different ways, but they use it in a way they find works for them.”

Whilst we are not developing new technologies themselves like Ray Tomlinson or Sir Tim Berners-Lee, we are innovators in the way we harness technology for the benefit of our business and our customers alike.

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 11

Reg Brown’s Postcard Emporium T

his postcard from the Reg Brown collection takes us back to the 1960s, and features an example of what Wikipedia describes as an “an enduring symbol of 1960s’ kitsch” – namely the ‘beehive’ female hair-do, “popular throughout the 1960s in the USA and other Western countries”.

As a contrast with the sepia of earlier times, this 1969 postcard takes us into the world of color (sic). Unused, the rear of the card is blank apart from telling us that this is the office of Sydney S. Kapner Co, an insurance broker, analyst, consultant, with the words “mutual funds” tacked on the end of that job description.

The address is St John’s Place in Brooklyn, New York and thanks to Google it’s possible to see that the street level frontage of this three storey location is now a lounge bar – as we well know, a fate that befell many premises of former insurance provision.

A swivel across the road on Google reveals the familiar Brooklyn truncated fire escapes on the frontage of tenement buildings, but Mr Kapner’s business later moved across Manhattan to Pennsylvania Plaza – moving also from a Co. to an Inc. The only other clue to the history of this organisation is a dealer’s pencilled note on the rear of the card, “Established April 1969 Dissolved December 1992” Does anyone recognise this?

There’s no clue to the identity of the surroundings in this second card. Do those marble columns still exist? In a wine bar or restaurant perhaps?

12 insurancepeople MAY 2016

News Review LV= Broker partners with Parkwise V= Broker has secured a new deal with Parkwise to offer its ABC Park home insurance product exclusively to park home customers, extending its partnership with the caravan insurance intermediary.

As well as offering new for old buildings cover up to £500,000 and accidental damage cover as standard, LV= Broker’s Park home insurance product allows park home customers to choose their own level of contents cover, with optional cover for valuables and possessions away from the home.

It also offers alternative accommodation up to £50,000, garden contents cover up to £1,000 and unlimited freezer contents cover. Discounts are available for park home owners association members, plus all customers have access to a 24 hour domestic emergency helpline.

Parkwise is a trading name of Caravanwise Limited which was founded in 1998 to focus entirely on the caravan, motorhome and park home insurance markets.

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Six candidates for LMA board ix candidates are standing for four seats on the LMA Board, with the result due to be announced at the LMA’s annual general meeting on 18 May. The six candidates are:

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Jonathan Butcher, chief executive, Novae Syndicates Ltd

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David Croom-Johnson, managing director, AEGIS London

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James Dover, group chief financial officer, Tokio Marine Kiln Syndicates

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Lawrence Holder, managing director, Cathedral Underwriting

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Andrew McKee, chief executive officer, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Underwriting at Lloyd’s

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Johan Slabbert, chief executive officer, Chaucer Syndicates

The LMA board has 12 elected members. Elections take place each year when one-third of the elected members stand down.

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Need for greater reputation cover he CII Insurance Broking Faculty New Generation group is calling for industry wide action to address the gap in reputational risk protection for SMEs. The group’s new report details the growing threat of reputational damaging events due to unprecedented advancements in social media and global connectivity.

The group's recommendations, following 18 months of research, are: data capture and collection must be developed to allow quantification; insurers and brokers must coordinate a shared approach to recording loss data; and brokers must become far more proactive, discussing brand and reputation risk with their clients as a matter of course.

The group have recommended the market should develop a comprehensive ‘Brand & Reputation’ solution which should

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offer four distinct areas of protection – prevention risk management; crisis cost & containment; indemnity protection for loss of revenue; and post-loss consultancy.

Nick Kincaid, project manager at Wills Towers Watson, member of the group, says, “The use of social media is exacerbating the extent to which reputation damaging events affect a business. From our research it is clear that this is especially true of SME–sized companies, who at present, are left unprotected.

"Insurance brokers must be prepared to readily discuss this exposure with their clients, and the industry as a whole must devise a concise and cost effective solution to help SME’s protect their brand. We hope our report’s recommendations can form the basis of a marketable product, or at the very least, help elevate the profile of brand and reputation risk within the insurance industry.”

DWF acquires niche insurance law firm egal business DWF is to acquire niche law firm Fox Hartley to strengthen its insurance, litigation and product liability capability, enhance its sector expertise and help secure new domestic and international insurer clients.

Fox Hartley, which has 16 people including three partners, has experience in delivering specialist litigation and alternative dispute resolution services for major insurer and manufacturer clients, including a number of shared clients with DWF. The firm acts for UK and global insurers, in relation to catastrophic injury, aviation claims, property damage, business interruption, policy wording disputes and the development of new products.

The merger will support DWF’s growing focus on the Lloyd’s insurance market and “ … enhance the firm’s delivery of high value commercial litigation work”.

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No.1 in the handling and disposing of motor vehicles The handling and disposing of motor vehicle salvage is a constant drain on financial and administrative resources. HBC reduce this by providing an unrivalled service. We are prompt, efficient and fully in accordance with current industry guidelines and environmental legislation. We also require only minimum administration to collect and dispose of your vehicle salvage.

With continued investment and systems development we are able to set the standards that others struggle to achieve. We are the safest hands in salvage.

HBC Vehicle Services, HBC House, Charfleets Road, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 0PQ

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www.hbc.co.uk 01268 696444 Fax: 01268 510087 Email: info@hbc.co.uk BRITISH VEHICLE SALVAGE FEDERATION

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 13

News Review Three wins for AXA A XA reports successful defence in a trio of suspicious motor claims, resulting in estimated savings of nearly £400,000.

Claimants in the three cases submitted evidence of varying degrees of exaggeration and dishonesty, with one judge accepting AXA’s plea of fraud and another finding that the claimant’s evidence was fundamentally dishonest.

In Shah vs Delaney & AXA Insurance, which arose from an alleged road traffic accident in July 2010, it was suspected that both the claimant and AXA’s policyholder were engaged in the fabrication of an accident to secure the resultant damages.

At Birmingham Crown Court, following a series of adjournments to the case, HHJ Wall found that the claim submitted was indeed fraudulent highlighting the following (among other) reasons for his finding: the claimant’s independent witness was known to him; the claimant’s accident management company supplied a fraudulent invoice; the claimant

had been involved in 12 accidents over a 12-year period; the insured had colluded with the owner of the accident management company; the claimant’s car had previously been declared a total loss on two separate occasions.

In fighting this case, AXA Insurance reports that it secured cost savings of £217,000.

Colin Burgess, head of commercial motor claims at AXA Insurance, says, “Some of these cases took many years to bring to a conclusion but it is important, in the fight against fraud, that the industry shows that we will use all means necessary and stick with cases for as long as it takes to fight them successfully.”

Warning on customer data he City of London Police is issuing an alert to insurance industry staff to warn them about approaches by unscrupulous fraudsters looking to get access to customer data.

Officers are also reminding insurance staff about the serious consequences of passing on or selling customer data to third parties, which could lead to a criminal conviction and possible jail term.

Officers from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) received recent reports that criminals are targeting insurance staff in pubs, cafés or through social media in their bid to gain access to sensitive customer data and information. Instances have also

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been reported where staff have been watched leaving their organisation and approached whilst walking to their car or public transport.

The alert also comes after IFED detectives investigating claims management companies suspected of illegally obtaining customer data found evidence of this practice by more than one suspected criminal group.

Once the customer information is acquired, it is used to make nuisance calls to customers who are harassed and bullied by claims management companies. These companies then make bogus or exaggerated insurance claims ‘on behalf’ of the customer, who would never have submitted the claim otherwise.

Detective Chief Inspector Oliver Little, the head of the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department says, “We’re issuing this alert to make sure that those working in the insurance industry are fully aware of the lengths that criminals are prepared to go in order to get access to customer data.

“Insurance staff need to be mindful of this and think about how they can protect themselves from being targeted or what they should do if they are approached. Staff should also know that if they’re tempted to get involved in this activity, then they could be facing extremely serious criminal charges and the prospect of time in prison if convicted.”

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In association with

Car insurance rates “stall”

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he cost of motor insurance has stalled for the first time in a year, according to the latest Confused.com Car Insurance Price Index in association with Willis Towers Watson.

The average comprehensive premium held at £671 during the first quarter, even though price movements varied between segments.

Third party, fire and theft prices fell very slightly by £1, or 0.1% on average, to £1,128.

The first quarter price movements follow annual price rises in 2015 of 13.2% and 16.8% for comprehensive and TPFT cover respectively. Even after the latest changes, average comprehensive prices have risen by £81 over the last 12 months to the end of March.

Duncan Anderson, global P&C pricing and product management leader at Willis Towers Watson, comments, “It’s not that unusual for prices to plateau or fall in the first calendar quarter. Indeed, that’s happened in each of the last five years, perhaps in part owing to competition for new car registrations, but most other indicators had been pointing to a continuation of across-the-board rate increases.”

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Bermuda adopts country by country reporting inister of Finance the Honourable E.T. Bob Richards has announced that Bermuda has signed its Declaration to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the exchange of Country by Country Reports (“CbC”) after a long period of consultation with industry which began last year. In doing so, Bermuda adopts the OECD's CbC reporting regime, applicable to multinational enterprises ("MNEs").

Bermuda's CbC Declaration will, from the 2016 fiscal year, instruct MNEs headquartered in Bermuda to file their CbC information to the Minister of Finance by December 31st, 2017.

This start date is in line with France, the UK and a number of other countries, and is an extension of Bermuda’s move in October 2014 to become an Early Adopter of the OECD's other automatic exchange of tax information regime: 'the common reporting standard' ("CRS").

Through the CRS, Bermuda already requires financial institutions to file aspects of their clients' financial information by September 30th, 2017.

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Lombard General pre

ss ad circa 1996

his old press ad found in the archive harks back to the days when there were considerably more insurance companies around than there are now.

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In 1998 insurance had drawn a wall for itself between life and general business, which was odd because it was a barrier totally invisible to the paying customer.

Lombard General Insurance sought to breach that obstacle by encouraging general insurance brokers to widen their scope.

Prompting its brokers to enter the affinity market was another Lombard innovation, adopting a similar caring, long term image. The message stated at the time was, “We are more interested in customers themselves, rather than in their money” and affinity ultimately accounted for 20% of Lombard’s total business.

Alas, by 2000 Lombard found itself within a ‘Best of Breed’ and IT integration battle having been merged with GAN. This advert from the archive has already stirred a few memories – see page 6

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 15

News Review Actuaries announce accredited organisations T

he Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has announced the first organisations to be accredited to their Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS).

The QAS is a voluntary accreditation scheme for organisations that employ members of the IFoA. It has been created for organisations that want to demonstrate their commitment to effective quality assurance at the organisational level that underpins the quality of actuarial work.

Announcing the awards to the accredited organisations, Fiona Morrison, IFoA President, said, “Public confidence in the quality of actuarial work is vital to both commercial and professional success. The IFoA firmly believes that supportive work environments, where work is peer reviewed and where employees can speak up, lead to better quality outputs that our clients want and deserve.”

The organisations receiving the QAS accreditation are: Aon Hewitt Limited – Retirement & Investment Consulting Business Atkin Trustees Limited Barnett Waddingham LLP BBS Consultants and Actuaries Limited Buck Consultants Limited – Retirement Practice Capita Employee Benefits Limited & Capita Employee Benefits (Consulting) Limited Deloitte LLP, Deloitte MCS Limited and Deloitte Total Reward & Benefits Limited – Actuarial, Reward and Analytics Function First Actuarial LLP H&C Consulting Actuaries LLP Hughes Price Walker Limited Hymans Robertson LLP – Investment, Actuarial Benefits and Consultancy, Risk Modelling and Consulting practices JLT Benefit Solutions – Trustee, Corporate and Investment Consulting divisions Lane Clark & Peacock LLP Mazars LLP Mercer Limited Milliman LLP and Milliman Financial Strategies Limited – Life & Financial Services Consulting; Property & Casualty Insurance Consulting; and Financial Risk Management practices Premier Pensions Management Limited – Actuarial Function Punter Southall Limited & Punter Southall Investment Consulting Limited Quantum Actuarial LLP P-Solve Investments Limited – River and Mercantile Derivatives division Spence and Partners Limited Towers Watson Limited.

16 insurancepeople MAY 2016

Junction MD raising funds for Zambia project

ith a 500 km cycle ride from London to Paris, Gary Duggan, managing director of Junction, BGL Group’s partnerships business, is helping to raise money for the construction of a health clinic BGL is funding in Zambia.

Every year, BGL chooses an international project to support through fundraising as part of its CSR and community programme.

Gary Duggan will join 19 other BGL employees to travel to Kapiri in Zambia at the end of June to put the finishing touches to the health clinic, which will have specialist maternity and HIV clinics. BGL has built the clinic in partnership with Build It International, a charity which trains people in Zambia in construction skills.

The team will also revisit the school in the town of Kabaka, which was funded by BGL in 2014.

To date Gary Duggan has raised more than £2,000 towards the project. BGL’s fundraising page can be found at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com /fund/Kapiri2016

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In association with

“Demo Day” for insurance start-ups tartupbootcamp InsurTech, the “accelerator” focused on insurance, recently held its first Demo Day for the 10 selected Insurtech startups. The Demo Day themed ‘’Eruption’’, held at Spitalfields venue in Shoreditch, provided the startups the opportunity to pitch their ideas to over 400 angel investors, venture capitalists, industry specialists and corporates looking for investment options and partnerships.

The 10 startups were selected from over 250+ applicants across 15 countries, to be part of the threemonth programme. Throughout the programme the startups collaborated with partners, mentors, business experts and investors, to help build “ … world class InsurTech products to transform the insurance industry”.

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The 10 startups that pitched were:

better insurance by using data from wearable devices

l BimaAfya, a mobile micro-health insurance product for the low income and under-served African population

l massUp, offering an insurance API and transaction shop for small protection insurance to B2B partners.

l Buzzmove, a data company, an online price comparison and booking platform for the removals industry and to personalise home insurance l Covi Analytics, allowing insurers to simplify the management of their regulatory compliance process on a single platform l Domotz InsurTech, a provider of telematics solutions for the connected home and small business P&C insurance market

FitSense, helping health and life insurance companies provide

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l Myfuturenow, combining old pension plans into one low cost online account l Quantifyle, enabling use of wellbeing data from wearables and private records to earn tailored insurance l Rightindem, a self-service total loss claims platform

Spixii formerly known as Safer, helping people to know their risks and choose adequate insurance cover.

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Aon launches global reinsurer trading platform A on Benfield has announced the launch of ABConnect Placements, its global reinsurer trading platform, on April 11.

In place for the 1 July renewals, ABConnect Placements is intended to provide “ ... a more integrated, streamlined and documented process for global treaty reinsurance transactions”. The goal is to better serve clients with real-time data and metrics through enhanced collaboration between Aon Benfield’s reinsurers and brokers.

Reinsurance underwriters can benefit from one portal to access placements, track progress and manage opportunities across Aon Benfield. In practice, this means underwriters can manage key milestones in the

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placement, including: securely downloading underwriting submission packages, other key documents and data files; entering quotes with terms and conditions updated in real time; and viewing firm order terms and entering authorised lines.

Michael Moran, chief operating officer of Aon Benfield, comments, “Collaborating with our reinsurer partners through this next generation platform will result in more real time information to share with clients and enable them to make more informed placement decisions. We conducted a global pilot with reinsurers during the 1 January renewal that has helped to shape the process and create a streamlined and efficient trading platform.”

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 17

News Review Horwich Farrelly secures “strike out” ruling pecialist insurance law firm, Horwich Farrelly, has successfully employed section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (CJCA) to secure the first finding of fundamental dishonesty under the extended provisions contained within the legislation.

Whilst some fundamental dishonesty provisions have been in place since the ‘Jackson Reforms’ of 2013, the CJCA 2015 provides much greater scope for sanctions to be applied to insurance fraudsters. Where a claim made after 13 April 2015 is found to be fundamentally dishonest in any part the court must now dismiss the whole claim – even if it includes a genuine element – unless to do so would cause ‘substantial injustice’.

A finding of fundamental dishonesty under the Act also results in the claimant automatically losing qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) protection, allowing a defendant to apply for recovery of its costs.

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QuestGates extends Zoom capability oss adjuster QuestGates is extending the capabilities of its high level survey service, Zoom, which formed part of its acquisition of TSS Loss Adjusting last year, with the introduction of a new menu-based building damage validation solution which will include its existing QGV service.

The Zoom high level survey capability uses vehicle mounted automatic power masts to take real time images where access is often not physically possible up to a height of 85ft (30m) negating the need for scaffolding costs to be incurred before the cause and/or scope of damage has been established. It is particularly effective in areas where the use of drones is not permitted or where they cannot provide an adequate image.

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In the case of Hughes, Kindon and Jones v KGM, heard on 1 April 2016 at Taunton County Court, all three claimants alleged they had suffered injuries lasting 12 months, despite what was a very minor incident with the insurer’s policyholder.

At the trial Horwich Farrelly, representing KGM, raised a number of inconsistencies in the claimants’ evidence.

Jones’s claim was struck out for failing to provide witness evidence, with costs awarded to KGM. However, Deputy District Judge Eaton-Hart found that the impact was sufficient to have caused injury to Hughes and Kindon, but only for a period of just two weeks, rather than the 12 months claimed. On this basis he initially awarded the pair £750 each in damages.

Horwich Farrelly felt this was an unjust result given that, under QOCS, the insurer would be liable for substantial legal costs defending what was, in essence, a grossly exaggerated

claim. The firm drew the court’s attention to the fact that, during a medical examination six weeks after the accident, the claimants had stated they were still suffering from injuries arising from the incident. Given that the judge had decided that the injury period lasted just two weeks, it stood to reason that they had lied during the examination.

Horwich Farrelly therefore requested the claims of Hughes and Kindon be ruled as fundamentally dishonest under section 57 CJCA 2015. DDJ Eaton-Hart accepted the request.

Striking out the claims in their entirety, he said that the two claimants had “presented a deliberate inaccurate position to the medical expert for financial gain”. He also ruled that the claimants would not suffer substantial injustice from the decision.

The claimants automatically lost QOCS protection and were ordered to pay the insurer costs of £6,100.

Emerald Life appoints Transactor merald Life has appointed Transactor Global Solutions to support its bid to set a new standard in the service that members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community can expect from their insurer.

Emerald Life is partnering with Transactor for all aspects of policy sales and administration, including online B2C capabilities and call centre portal functionality. Transactor will also support Emerald’s multiple lines of insurance including homes and contents, travel, term life, pet and wedding.

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Rachael Storton, operations manager at TGSL, says, “Emerald Life is an exciting business that is doing something special for an important constituency in the insurance market – and indeed the country at large. Emerald approached Transactor looking for a flexible software solution capable of supporting a variety of different lines of business.

The company had identified the importance of online marketing and e-trading to achieving its goals and we at Transactor are committed to help Emerald Life stay one step ahead of the competition.”

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In association with

Changes proposed in enforcement decisions he FCA and the PRA have published proposals aimed at strengthening the transparency and effectiveness of their enforcement decisionmaking processes.

The consultation paper explains the changes which have already been put into practice by the regulators, and sets out the recommendations which require consultation and the proposals for implementing them.

The FCA also proposes to amend the Enforcement Guide and the Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual to provide a framework and incentives for partly contested cases. This proposal allows enforcement proceedings to be resolved when an individual or firm agrees all relevant facts and the breaches which arise from those facts, but wishes to contest the appropriate regulatory outcome before the Regulatory Decisions Committee.

The FCA is not proposing any changes to the process for agreeing a full resolution of all issues – facts, liability and penalty – which will continue to have a 30% discount applied to the penalty at stage 1.

The PRA will consult separately on the recommendations dealing with settlement and contested decision-making, once the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill has passed through Parliament. The PRA plans to publish more detail about its enforcement process alongside its implementation of the other HMT Enforcement Review recommendations.

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FCA outlines priorities T he FCA has published its business plan for 2016/17, outlining seven priority themes – pensions, financial crime and antimoney laundering, wholesale financial markets, advice, innovation and technology, firms’ culture and governance, and the treatment of existing customers.

Tracey McDermott, acting chief executive of the FCA says, “It is our job to make markets work well. Ensuring effective and proportionate regulation which tackles the problems of the past without inhibiting developments of the future is at the heart of what we do. Over the next year we will continue to embed this sustainable

approach to regulation in everything we do.

“The majority of our resources remain devoted to our core business and today we have set out the outcomes we want our work to achieve. Transparency is important to us, and this plan will give all stakeholders an understanding of our focus for the year ahead.”

The FCA’s annual funding requirement for the year will be £519.3 million, an increase of 7.8% on the previous year. The increase is due to the inclusion of consumer credit in operating costs for the first time. Excluding consumer credit, the FCA budget has reduced by £7.6 million.

THB motor fleet exclusive with Unicorn HB, the specialist insurance and reinsurance broker, has secured an exclusive wholesale broking arrangement with Unicorn Underwriting for UK motor fleet business.

Unicorn Underwriting recently received backing from Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance, and that new capacity will now be available to UK regional brokers, for a broad range of motor fleet risks, via THB following its exclusive arrangement with Unicorn.

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Lee Price, managing director, THB Motor Fleet says, “Unicorn’s expert underwriting capabilities, combined with Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Limited capacity, makes this a compelling alternative insurance proposition for motor fleet businesses. THB is delighted to announce its exclusive arrangement with Unicorn and to offer this security and expertise to UK brokers and their motor fleet clients.”

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 19

News Review Ageas employees raise over £88,000 for NSPCC geas employees had a busy year of fundraising by taking part in various events to raise money for the NSPCC – Ageas’s nominated charity, during 2015.

From plane pulls to carol singing, Tough Mudder to skydiving, and cycling from Paris to Hayling Island, Ageas’s employees have raised over £88,000.

Ageas also offered their employees the opportunity to donate their spare pennies from their monthly net pay through ‘Pennies from Heaven’ scheme. From this scheme employees contributed an additional £6,610 over and above the fundraising total of £88,000.

Lyn Nicholls, HR director of Ageas UK, says, “All of our employees take charitable fundraising very seriously and very much enjoy the challenges they can take part in to help

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Ageas employees from the Eastleigh office take part in Tough Mudder

support good causes and this is reflected in the fact that we’ve raised a truly fantastic amount for the NSPCC. Our employees have always had a flair for innovative

The Bureau awarded Cyber Essentials Accreditation S pecialist Web design firm, The Bureau, has recently undergone the Cyber Essentials Cyber Security Accreditation process, which it has now passed. Cyber Essentials is a new government-backed and industry supported scheme to guide businesses in protecting themselves against cyber threats.

The scheme is an independently verified assessment process that a qualified assessor then reviews. It is a rigorous test with a long list of questions on a wide range of IT and human security.

The Bureau's Alastair Murray says, “Cyber security has become increasingly important in the past 12 months, so much so that some private firms and local authorities are requiring suppliers to meet the 20 insurancepeople MAY 2016

Cyber Essentials security standard as a minimum requirement for bidding for work. It is more than likely that as the threats increase, having a Cyber Essentials Accreditation will be a must-have requirement for all professional firms.”

ways of fundraising and I have no doubt that we will continue to do all we can to make a valuable contribution to our communities”.

Late payment affects 90% of businesses research report from trade credit insurers Atradius, based on the experience of more than 3,000 businesses in Western Europe, shows that late payment affects 90% of them. Around 45% of the value of B2B invoices in Great Britain remain unpaid past due date, and 39% of GB businesses surveyed intend to check their customers’ creditworthiness more often.

Business conditions in 2016 are forecast to remain challenging, and the outlook for insolvencies is mixed. This is mainly due to the decline in commodity prices and the slowdown of China’s economy.

Little to no improvement is expected in the insolvencies environment this year, with the absolute level of bankruptcies in the eurozone forecast to remain 66% higher than the 2007 pre-crisis level.

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In association with

CII responds to drone hazards T he recent drone collison with a BA flight, though ending with no damage or injury, highlights the need to address the issues surrounding drone use safety, says the CII. Its head of policy and research, Laurence Baxter comments: "There are growing numbers of drones but unfortunately relatively little progress in thinking about better safeguards, despite the fact that they could pose a threat to not just jet airliners but smaller aircraft and helicopters. Many experts consider it can only be a matter of time before a major accident occurs.

"With this in mind what can be done to avoid collisions in the first place? We have recently published a Thinkpiece which sets out some of the concerns:

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Exploring better detection technology. Sighting and evasion is perhaps the most difficult given that drones are so small, and in some cases evasion can be as dangerous as impact.

Technology such as transponders would allow drones to be detected and tracked by air traffic control and airliner collision avoidance systems.

Detailed testing to determine the risk of drones to other airspace users such as various sizes of aircraft. At the moment, surprisingly little is known of this, especially given the range of

Photo courtesy of Lasse Fuss

different sizes of drones that are coming onto the market. l

Geo-fencing to prevent drones from entering certain airspaces is feasible but as it stands there are gaps in making this work to benefit all airspace users.

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Registration might remove the highest risk drone users.

Presently under consideration by

ministers is the introduction of an online registration system, forcing owners to put their details on a database before they could fly a drone, and ensuring the drones are equipped with transponders and geo-fencing.

They might help sensible owners understand the dangers posed by drones, but it may not help when owners wish to deliberately fly their drones near other aircraft."

Allianz commercial products on Applied TAM llianz commercial lines products are now available on Applied TAM, with access to the company's Property Owners, Tradesman, and Shop and Office products on the iMarket system.

“In a bid to continually benefit brokers, our latest development with Applied Systems allows brokers the flexibility to trade successfully in a competitive

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market,” said David Martin, director of SME, Allianz Insurance. “By automating client portfolio management with our brokers via Applied TAM, we increase ease of doing business, build stronger broker relationships, and enable a better end client experience. We are committed to providing brokers with options, and we believe that

this platform offers brokers just that.”

Jeff Purdy, senior vice president of international operations, Applied Systems, adds, “The addition of Allianz products and growing adoption of our commercial lines panel demonstrates an increasing appetite from brokers and insurers to digitally differentiate and quickly grow their business.”

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 21

News Review IDF wants more risk know-how he International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) has applauded the formation of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) as announced on April 18 following a high level meeting in Washington, DC. The formation of the IDF was announced in a joint release issued by leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank Group and the insurance industry.

The IDF aims to: 1) incorporate insurance industry risk measurement know-how into existing governmental disaster risk reduction and resilience frameworks; and 2) to build a more sustainable and resilient global insurance market in a world facing growing natural disaster and climate risk.

This announcement followed a keynote address by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a planning conference with many CEOs from the industry which emphasised the critical role that the insurance industry can play in building natural disaster resilience and helping meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The IDF is chaired by: Stephen Catlin, executive deputy chairman, XL Catlin; deputy chair, International Insurance Society, and chair of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers.

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22 insurancepeople MAY 2016

New structure for Markerstudy retail he retail division of Markerstudy is undergoing a refocus, following the resignation of managing director, Russell Bence, who leaves the company on 30th April after seven years.

The division, which employs nearly 700 staff, will be restructured into four distinct units, with the incumbent operations directors promoted to the positions of divisional heads, reporting to Martyn Holman, group commercial director.

Ross Barrington, who transferred to Markerstudy in November 2013 when the group acquired the BDML Connect business from Capita, will head insurer relations, and brands Insurance Factory, Insurance Shop and BDML. Having also transferred from Capita ownership, Richard Morley will continue his responsibility for the classic car insurance brand Lancaster.

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Martyn Holman

Amanda Kerry-Wallington will continue to lead the specialist insurance broker and claims administrator, Supercover, which was acquired by the group in 2014.

And Neil Muldoon, who joined the group in 2015 when it acquired personal lines insurer The Policy Shop, secures the top position for brands Insurance Choice and The Policy Shop.

Junction launches RAC Home J

unction, BGL Group’s partnerships business, has extended its partnership with the RAC with the launch of a home insurance proposition, RAC Home, which replaces the RAC’s existing home cover and reflects Junction’s commitment to enhancing its existing partnerships with new schemes.

RAC Home is the third product that the partnership has created; Junction also provides the RAC with products for car insurance and a telematics powered solution.

RAC Insurance director Mark Godfrey says, “Our partnership with Junction has been highly

successful in the car insurance space so it made perfect sense to extend our relationship into home insurance. Junction has created a product that suits our requirements and the power of its insurance panel helps us to deliver value for our customers.”

Gary Duggan, Junction’s managing director, adds, “The extension of our agreement with the RAC into home insurance demonstrates Junction’s commitment to working with our existing partners to offer them the best possible suite of products, and solutions that match the needs and qualities of that brand.”

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Profitability expected to decrease T he overall profitability of general insurers is expected to decrease in the coming three months, while profits growth will slow for life assurers, according to the latest CBI/PwC financial services survey.

This pressure on general insurers’ profitability is driven mainly by rising costs and low returns on investment, rather than premium levels or business volume – both of which are set to rise.

Meanwhile, life insurers are less optimistic about revenues, with expected income from fees and premiums anticipated to fall over the coming quarter.

The survey says that competition within the industry is one of the more significant limiting factors affecting growth – particularly within general insurance – with an increasing threat from start-up InsurTech companies who are setting a new benchmark for communicating and analysing customer needs.

PwC comments, “Insurers are responding by continuing to invest heavily in technology to tackle rising costs and inefficiencies.

However, they are equally keen to

use new technology to drive growth through new products and reaching new customers. This reflects survey concerns around competition, systems capacity and limited demand. General insurers are expecting their growth to come substantially from gaining new business in the UK over the next 12 months, in contrast with life insurers who are looking to expand their international client base.

“Regulatory spending has been tracking down across the insurance industry over the last couple of surveys but continues to be a key driver of capital expenditure – for general insurers in particular despite the long awaited implementation of Solvency II in January.

“Employment is still a hot topic, with life assurers expecting an increase in numbers employed over the next quarter. General insurers also expect to hire more staff, but with more of a focus on training existing employees.

“Competition in the insurance broking industry continues to be intense and is highlighted as the number one threat to growth for brokers in the coming 12 months.”

Emerald Life targets gay and lesbian community T he UK’s first full-service insurance provider designed and tailored for the gay and lesbian community launched recently, responding, it says, to the almost eight in 10 members of the LGBT community (79%) that said they would change the way insurance companies treated them.

Emerald Life aims to provide: “ … products tailored to the

Dangers of the “smartphone zombie” lmost three quarters (72%) of drivers say they often see pedestrians step into the road whilst distracted by their phone, according to a new AA/Populus poll of 24,000 members.

The poll also found: 70% when driving often see pedestrians, distracted by their smartphone, step into the road; 66% when driving often see pedestrians, wearing headphones, step into the road.

AA patrols have also reported an increase in the number of 'zombie pedestrians' and joggers oblivious to traffic around them as they cross busy roads. It is thought that pedestrians’ lack of attention may be a factor in some of the 446 pedestrian deaths in 2014.

Previous analysis from AA Insurance shows that pedestrian 'inattention' could be the cause of 17 collisions each day.

Edmund King OBE, AA president, says, “We can’t stop the march of technology but we need to halt the pedestrian, cycle and driver zombies.

Whether on two feet, two wheels or four, too many people are suffering from Smartphone Oblivion.”

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community’s specific needs and circumstances; delivered through a service experience purpose-built for the community; championing the broader equality and diversity matters that the community faces”.

Emerald Life has launched its first insurance products - home, term life, wedding and pet -- with travel to follow shortly.

For full details on Emerald’s products visit http://www.emeraldlife.co.uk/

news review

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 23

News Review

In association with

“Fundamental dishonesty” ruling in whiplash case A motorist who contrived an accident with another vehicle in which a three-year-old girl was a passenger, has had his claim dismissed in a civil trial following a rare ruling of fundamental dishonesty. Despite the innocent victim confronting the dishonest claimant at the scene and the claim being declined in the prelitigation stage by the defendant’s insurer, Ageas Insurance, the dishonest claimant went on to issue proceedings against the innocent driver, resulting in a £20,000 civil case.

On 24 November 2014, the victim was out in his car in Leeds with his partner and three-yearold daughter. As he approached a mini roundabout, he saw another car drive at him, cutting across the roundabout from the other side of the road to hit the victim’s car in the side to make it look as though he had failed to give way. In a state of shock, the victim was able to find the

claimant’s car parked up nearby.

As he approached, two passengers arrived claiming to have been in the car. It was this and a string of lies and inconsistencies that led to the finding of fundamental dishonesty.

The dishonest claimant declared to have been in bed for two days following the accident but evidence showed he had been to his GP and to a car hire company to arrange and sign for a hire car. The names of the passengers in the claimant’s car differed from those provided in court and none was called to give evidence.

Finally the dishonest claimant was unable to provide a consistent explanation for the post-accident aftermath. In his conversation with the police, he alleged he stopped close to the accident scene to allow for his passengers to exchange details.

Whilst in his CPR statement he

claimed to have driven a long way from the scene before stopping down a side street and letting passengers out to exchange details.

James Langdown, fraud operations manager at Ageas, says, “From the outset it was clear this was a contrived accident and should never have reached court but we are delighted to have achieved a finding of fundamental dishonesty and in doing so, protected our customer from the cost of what was a deliberate collision.”

He adds,“A finding of fundamental dishonesty both defeats spurious claims and hits fraudsters in the pocket by automatically removing Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) protection. By fighting this case we not only protect our innocent customers but send a strong message to other fraudsters that we won’t walk away from such cases.”

Allianz congratulates broker scholarship graduates llianz Commercial recently held a graduation event at the Andaz hotel in London, to celebrate the achievements of 13 scholars who successfully graduated from the Allianz Partner Academy Scholarship Programme.

Within the last 18 months, the graduates have benefited from the tuition and networking opportunities that the programme has to offer. Now, following their

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Graduate Jennifer Clark and Allianz Commercial general manager Simon McGinn 24 insurancepeople MAY 2016

graduation, they will join the Allianz Scholarship Alumni programme, which provides a range of key benefits including preferential access to Allianz Partners Academy courses and Breakfast Clubs, regular LinkedIn blogs, an exclusive magazine and networking opportunities.

The graduates were joined at the event by their broker sponsors and Allianz representatives.

news review

On the move

Gary Ferguson

Bollington Gary Ferguson joins Bollington Insurance as motor trade account manager serving Scotland from his base in Bo’ness, West Lothian. He joins from T L Dallas in Falkirk, and spent 14 years at Axa and ten at General Accident, with spells at Marsh and Clydesdale Bank.

Jim Knight joins as motor trade account manager, based in Luton and covering the South East. His 30 years’ experience includes account management roles at Marsh and Giles.

Carl Jones joins as corporate business developer. Previously at RBIG, his 25 years’ experience in commercial insurance includes 18 years at Cooperative Insurance.

Barbican

LV=

Barbican Insurance appoints Iain Bremner as managing director of Barbican Managing Agency (BMAL) which manages Barbican Syndicate 1955 and Special Purpose Syndicate 6118, and Arcus Syndicate 1856. He joins from Capita Managing Agency where he was chief executive officer and led the projects to establish Probitas Syndicate 1492 and Allied World Syndicate 2232. He previously held a number of roles in the Lloyd’s MGA arena, including managing director of Max at Lloyd’s (formerly Imagine Syndicates and Abacus Syndicates).

LV= Broker appoints Steve Bottamley as business development manager for the commercial insurance schemes market. With 30 years’ experience, he was most recently national schemes account manager for Ecclesiastical. Prior to that, he was national broker manager at Axa and key account manager at Allianz.

Graham Hooper

Chaucer

Kate Walker

Allianz Allianz Global Assistance UK appoints Kate Walker to lead innovation development within the strategic marketing and innovations team. Her previous roles include global propositions design lead at Bupa Global, and marketing roles at Bupa International, RSA, and Norwich Union (now Aviva).

Carl Jones

Skuld Skuld appoints Mattias Hedqvist as chief claims officer. He joined in 2002 holding various claims positions, and was stationed in the office in Greece for four years.

appointments

Who’s going where?

TMK Tokio Marine Kiln appoints Ann Kelly as property owners strategic director. She has over 30 years’ experience in the property insurance sector. She spent decade as head of property owners at Aviva having joined the group in 1979 when it was General Accident.

Chaucer appoints Graham Hooper and Bryan Rettmann to head a new freight forwarder and logistics insurance unit and will also work closely with Hanover Specialty Insurance Brokers dealing in motor truck cargo, warehousing, and shipper’s interest.

Graham is based in London, and joins from TT Club, where he was senior cargo underwriter.

Bryan is based in Miami and joins from American International Group where he was vice president of the global marine division and logistics product line leader for North America.

BLM Insurance and risk law firm BLM appoints Matthew Trinder as partner as a specialist in defendant clinical negligence litigation. He joins from Bevan Brittan LLP where he was a partner in the London clinical risk team.

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 25

On the move Markel Markel International appoints Torgny Johansson as managing director of its Swedish business based in Stockholm. After an earlier career at McKinsey, he had nine years’ insurance experience and joins from Trygg Hansa, where he was most recently, head of its affinity groups business.

Torgny Johansson

Prior to this, he spent five years at Nordic property and casualty business If, latterly as head of the commercial property product area.

Sarah Everall joins as assistant livestock underwriter in the equine and livestock division. Her career began in the City as a money broker for Tradition UK and in 2010 she joined Chaucer as

Sarah Everall

Argo Group

Broker Network

Argo Group International Holdings appoints Craig Landi as president of Argo Pro U.S. professional lines business. He joins from Freedom Specialty Insurance where he was president and chief operating officer. Prior to that he held senior leadership roles at Arch Insurance, ACE Insurance, CNA Insurance and American International where he started his career in professional lines underwriting.

Broker Network appoints Tim Rolfe in the newly created role of chief product & underwriting officer. He joins from Lloyd’s insurer Canopius where he was chief executive of UK specialty from 2011. Prior to this he was CEO at UK General, part of the Primary Group, having previously held a number of senior roles at Aviva.

Novae Novae Group appoints Valeria Del Villano as class underwriter for renewable energy, She is based in London and joins from RSA’s engineering and renewable energy team. Prior to this she was a renewable energy underwriter at Gcube and also held roles with HSB Engineering Insurance and AM Trust Europe.

26 insurancepeople MAY 2016

Towergate Towergate appoints Christine Dandridge as a non-executive director. In her 30 years’ insurance experience she was a founder and executive director of Atrium Underwriting, and took a number of non-executive roles after its sale in 2007. She is currently a director of Managing Agency Partners and Ariel Re and is a member of the Lloyd’s Market Supervision and Review Committee (MSARC).

a cargo underwriting assistant.

She gained underwriting authority in 2012 supporting two underwriters on the Chaucer syndicate.

Hazel Ward joins as UK marine underwriter and was previously underwriter for Travelers’ marine portfolio having held earlier positions at RSA.

Hazel Ward

Capsicum Delegated Authority Specialist binding authority broker Capsicum Delegated Authority appoints Daniel Snowden as a director based in London. With over 20 years’ industry experience he joins from RFIB Group, and before that spent five years with Dashwood Brewer & Phipps and Cosmos Risk Solutions. He began his career with Corrie Bauckham Batts and has held roles with G N Rouse and F E Wright.

ArgoGlobal ArgoGlobal appoints Andrew Summers as credit and political risks underwriter. He joins from AIG Europe where he served most recently as senior underwriter, political risk. His career began with Aon in 2007, culminating with his appointment as a crisis management broker in the political risk department.

appointments

Who’s going where?

Cunningham Lindsey

IFoA

Cunningham Lindsey appoints John Reed as major loss engineer in the major and complex loss team.

He joins from Waukesha Magnetic Bearings where he was service manager within the gas and petro chemical industry in Holland and Russia. Royal Navy trained, he has over 30 years’ engineering experience.

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries elect Marjorie Ngwenya as the next president-elect taking up her role in June 2016, when Colin Wilson becomes the new president, taking over from Fiona Morrison. She will then become president in June 2017. Experience in the consulting and reinsurance fields she was most recently chief risk officer of Old Mutual’s African operations based in Johannesburg and previously a director at Mazars in London and has extensive She is the first IFoA President to be based outside the UK. She was the editor of The Actuary magazine for three years until 2011.

Nexus CIFS Nexus CIFS appoints Nicola Slater as commercial underwriter responsible for the Midlands and South West whole turnover trade credit renewal book and broker relationships. After ten years in accounting, her insurance career began in 1996 as an accounts assistant with CIA/Aon Trade Credit where she became an account executive. In 2007 she was promoted to client director for Aon Credit International based in Birmingham.

Nicola Slater

appointments

Chase Templeton Chase Templeton appoints Geoff Thompson to the newly created role of business retention manager. He joins from PMI Group with whom he spent 17 years, eight as a senior employee benefits consultant.

Allianz Allianz Commercial appoints Mike Thomas as regional manager, south east region. He joined in 2003 on the corporate management trainee programme, and progressed to leadership positions in claims and commercial including development manager, Birmingham and branch manager at Luton. Most recently, he was a key broker strategic account manager.

He succeeds current regional manager for the South East, Gavin Dollings, who is promoted to a newly created role to deliver a key strategic programme within the business.

BMS BMS Group appoints James Gordon as managing director of its cyber and technology division. He has 13 years’ experience in the (re)insurance industry and joins from Lockton Companies, where he served as vice president, global technology & privacy practice.

Previous employers include Jardine Lloyd Thomson and HSBC Insurance Brokers.

Geoff Thompson

Mike Thomas

TMK Tokio Marine Kiln appoints Jean-Francois Rossetto as a construction and engineering underwriter based in Singapore. He joins from ACE and prior to that he worked for CCR in Paris for 10 years, and started his career with AXA Re having originally trained as a civil engineer.

RSA RSA appoints David Coughlan as managing director of its UK personal lines business. He joined in 2008 as group motor portfolio director before being appointed as underwriting and claims director for emerging markets in 2010 and group underwriting director in 2013. Prior to this, he was head of personal lines underwriting at Zurich Financial Services and chief pricing actuary for the Zurich Group. He has also held a variety of positions in Norwich Union, Guardian, and New Ireland Assurance. He replaces Mark Christer who is stepping down after five years in the role.

MAY 2016 insurancepeople 27

by Andrew Newman

Did someone once say insurance is boring?

T A s summer arrives, we’ll be seeing insurance people leaving their city-centre offices and strolling towards outdoor tables for a healthy snack lunch, and perhaps a beer in the sunshine.

Sounds like the good life, but is there room in today’s world to be completely at ease? A City of London Police alert to insurance industry staff warns that those exits have probably been observed by unscrupulous fraudsters, hungry for customer data, and prepared to pay big cash. (See page 14).

Until now, being a member of the insurance people fraternity was a fairly sedentary life and many outsiders went so far as to declare it as “boring”. No longer. We’re now part of the clandestine world of Le Carré and Chandler.

Listen to the advice the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau is giving to insurance industry staff:l

be careful talking about work in public places, such as pubs, cafés or on public transport

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try not to identify yourself as working in the insurance industry on social networking sites

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remove any identifying objects, such as lanyards, badges, company clothing etc. when leaving your office building

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make sure you’re aware of your employer’s policies around data handling

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report any approaches

OK, we know this is a serious problem. Data breaches are serious (see page 5). But what a boost for the “insurance is NOT boring” image! ontinuing the ‘NOT boring’ theme it’s good to see the CII livening things up (see page 21) with commentary on the nil-nil draw between a flying drone device and a British Airways flight.

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Like telematic’d cars, drones have been around for some time in construction and the military. Fair enough - why risk a pilot in dangerous areas? But when it appears that Amazon might deliver my next parcel from the air?... that raises a few questions. Will I have to paint a landing circle on my lawn? Do you want to deliver at the front or the back? Will I need a windsock?

28 insurancepeople MAY 2016

in association with:

he item of progress that really puts the wind up me is the robot server in customer-facing situations. We all know the computerised version of this interface. “Ask a question,” says the PC. It then presents several specimen questions to choose from – none of which is even close to the one you want. But sometimes you are lucky with an instruction to ‘go to’ and ‘tick’ which goes fine until you come to a greyed-out box, or can’t actually see the box in question.

That’s frustrating enough… but imagine doing that face-to-face with a robot call carer. It happened to me! At Euston station they are now testing prototype human-looking robots on the travel information desk.

I’m in the habit of greeting family members when they arrive from the North-West. It amuses our granddaughter to see us waiting in exactly the right spot on the platform as her train draws in. A useful ‘arrivals’ board is the key to this stunt.

About a year ago this board started playing up, with the designated platform already occupied by a departing train. An otherwise helpful operative on the information desk cheerily picked up the phone to Control and repeated our query. He was obviously speaking to one of these new robots in the control room. He had to repeat his query three times, gradually becoming more frustrated and we were both saved further futility when the arrival came in – at a completely different platform to the one showing on the board.

The same discrepancy repeated itself on a more recent visit. Same query at the desk. But this time I found myself dealing with a real robot. It looked very human, but gave itself away by an inane grin, a few grunting noises, and a repetitive small movement of the arm in the general direction of the erroneous arrival board. It did utter the occasional sentence which I couldn’t really make out, but it’s intention was clear. “Computer says No!”.

on the road

Visit us on Stand C38 at BIBA 2016

HCC is now Tokio o Marine HCC C

HCC is now To Tokio Marine HCC We are pleased to be at BIBA 2016 on Stand C38 on the 11th and 12th May. Come and talk to our underwriters and discover what’s new.

Accident and Health • Commercial Property • Directors and Officers • Energy • International Credit and Political Risk • Liability • Marine • Professional Indemnity • Specialty • Surety and Bonds • Trreaty Reinsurance • UK Trrade Credit

International Group +44 (0)20 7702 470 0 To Be a Good Compan ny

tmhcc.com/ international

Specialty Insurerrs

Visit us at BIBA on stand E50

www.coveainsurance.co.uk @CoveaInsplc

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