Best from the web...St Paul ratings

St Paul ratingsMoody's has placed the A- (good) performance rating of St Paul Syndicate Management's Syndicate 779 on review for a possible downgrade. It said the rating was placed under review due to the syndicate's management instituting a review of the personal lines business written by the agency. Income is sourced via St Paul personal lines unit Cassidy Davis Insurance Services and Lutine Assurance. Insurance Times reported on 3 June that St Paul had initiated a review of its personal lines operations, with plans to dispose of its credit protection, credit card affinity schemes and term life divisions.(First published on 16 June.)

Fraud test fearsNew fraud fighting techniques could be driving away policyholders with genuine claims, warned specialist IT consultancy Detica. Responding to reports that cognitive interviewing techniques can lead to 30% of phone claims being withdrawn, Detica head of insurance Richard Love said: "It's unlikely that the 30% of customers who withdraw claims are all fraudsters. A large number of them probably have genuine claims but feel over-pressured by the interrogatory style of cognitive testing."(First published on 16 June.)

Drivers confused Three quarters of motorists do not fully understand the details of what their policy does and does not cover, revealed a survey from Norwich Union (NU). Nearly 60% of those surveyed said they thought their insurers would play a part in their recovery if they were to suffer a whiplash injury in an accident that was not their fault. But NU warned that most motor policies do not have automatic cover for personal injuries.(First published on 16 June.)