Committee determines how project will tackle fraud

The ABI's anti-fraud committee has confirmed that the launch of a UK insurance crime bureau is its "next big project".

The committee met this week to consider a number of proposals including the establishment of a "funded unit" tasked with combating industry-wide fraud.

As exclusively revealed in Insurance Times in May, the anti-fraud committee has been liaising with the US National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) as it assesses the feasibility of establishing a similar body in the UK.

This week the committee convened to discuss how the project will move forward.

ABI head of financial crime prevention Debra Weekes said: "It's our next big project - the issues we're considering include the possibility of setting up a funded unit responsible for tackling fraud, as well as establishing better protocols when handling cases such as staged accidents."

The anti-fraud committee will meet again at the end of October to finalise proposals for the establishment of an insurance crime bureau.

"Hopefully, in November, we'll have some real options," Weekes said.

The US NICB is a not-for-profit organisation that receives support from approximately 1,000 industry-related bodies including: US commercial and personal lines, property/casualty insurers, workers' compensation insurers, self-insured organisations, vehicle rental companies, retailers, utility providers and transport-related companies.

It partners insurers and law enforcement agencies to try to identify, detect and prosecute insurance criminals.

The ABI said this week that it expected to begin the "phased implementation" of its industry-wide fraud database at the end of 2004.

Last week, the ABI announced it had eliminated IBM and ISO from its shortlist of potential suppliers for the database.

The remaining companies on the shortlist are Experian and CSC.

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