Claims is at something of a crossroads Or at least how to deal with the excessive costs involved in the claims process.
The ABI has claimed first blood on this, by reflecting some of the crazy statistics that define the issue. For claims under £5,000, claims costs average 93p for every £1 awarded, with the main culprits being identified as lawyers who exacerbate the costs.
Furthermore, the average personal injury compensation claim takes three years to settle. The ABI wants this reduced to six months (page 18).
But what about the claimant's right to representation? Jon Dye makes the point that claimants are safe by trusting insurers to give them fair compensation (page 6). This is an assumption that lawyers will dispute and creates another debate entirely.
And when it comes to fraud there are no 'silver bullets' for insurers, but a lot of golden targets to keep aiming at (page 14). The debate about which system is best to identify fraudsters will rage on. But the emerging consensus is that no one system or technique achieves the desired result (page 17).
And there is the small matter of catastrophes. Natural catastrophes resulting in losses of £1bn or more are not uncommon, and could become more so, as a result of climate change and increased concentrations of wealth, according to the ABI.
The winter floods of 2000-2001 cost insurers more than £1bn. How did the industry deal with claims and what lessons can be learned? (page 10).
But with insurers' efforts to cut down every penny they possibly can, loss adjusters are in danger of being labelled an additional cost in such circumstances, rather than seen as added value to either insurers or policyholders (page 28).
