FEATURE:
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Changing the channel Bancassurance rises – what does it mean for travel insurance?
PROFILE:
Antoine Parisi ITIJ speaks to Europ Assistance’s CEO
ESSENTIAL READING FOR TRAVEL & HEALTH INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS
It won’t break the bank – but it may break travellers
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SERVICE DIRECTORY
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MAY 2019 • ISSUE 220
UAE travel insurance habits analysed A new study from United Arab Emirates-based digital-first insurance service InsuranceMarket.ae analysing the travel insurance behaviours of UAE citizens has revealed some interesting quirks and trends The study found that nearly half (45 per cent) of all travel insurance claims made by insured UAE travellers in 2018 were for lost or damaged personal belongings. Twenty-five per cent of claims were for delayed or missed flights, while only five per cent were for emergency medical situations encountered during a trip. Additionally, InsuranceMarket.ae has warned consumers that if they wait until the summer to buy travel insurance for their summer holidays, they could be paying as much as 20 per cent more for policies than those who plan further ahead. The site’s analysts suggest that purchasing outside of the peak booking period of May-August will net a much better deal, as annual premiums reportedly decrease by between 10 and 20 per cent. They also warn families that it makes more economic sense to purchase specific family cover, rather than individual policies for each member; although consumers are strongly advised to check the details of any policy they are planning to buy, as benefits shared across family members may not always be sufficient for a group’s needs. Regular travellers who take at least four trips annually of seven days or more are also
A new report from UK-based directto-consumer travel insurance provider Staysure has shed light on the limitations of the travel insurance cover provided by a number of leading banks According to the results, as many as 3.3 million UK holidaymakers aged 50 and over could be heading off on holiday, blissfully unaware that they do not have adequate coverage in place. “Brits do not knowingly travel uninsured,” Staysure emphasises in the introduction to its Don’t Bank on It report, “they think they are covered thanks to a combination of full trust in travel insurance
policies offered by banks and a lack of widespread knowledge of what they need to declare in order to be fully covered. Banks are not travel insurance specialists, so when it comes to asking customers to provide basic information about their health, which will tailor the policy they need to ensure they are covered, the onus is put on the customer to disclose medical conditions.” The report found that an eye-opening one in four British holidaymakers rely entirely on bankprovided travel cover, often because this add-on is promoted as a reason to open a current account. However, all too frequently this coverage does not cover older travellers with pre-existing medical
conditions, an issue of which consumers are unlikely to be aware, and that the banks themselves are reportedly not disclosing, either because of ignorance or carelessness. As travel insurance remains a stubbornly misunderstood product, many customers merely see a good deal – a new bank account with free travel insurance included – and have no concept of the potential pitfalls. Seventy-five per cent of the adults surveyed in the report admitted that they did not fully scrutinise the terms and conditions of their policies, and around 20 per cent said that they would seriously
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