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UK professional and management liability insurance claim notifications have risen steadily over the last decade and remain four times higher than pre-financial crisis levels, according to a report by Marsh.

Marsh, a global insurance broker and risk advisor, recorded that on the onset of the financial crisis, claim notifications rose by 75% to nearly 500 in 2008, before peaking at 1,685 claim notifications in 2012.

The research looked at claims against the professional and management liability policies of its UK clients between 2005 and 2015, and the main causes of declined claims.

Marsh UK risk management claims leader Robert Lewis said: “The increasing volume and complexity of regulatory activity in the UK and the European Union is a major driver of this upward claims notification trend.

“There is also an increasing level of cross border co-operation among regulators and a shift towards class or collective actions across EU member states.”

In the report, between 2005 and 2007 the firm recorded an average of 200-300 directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance claim notifications.

Less than 1% of financial lines claims made by Marsh’s UK clients were declined by insurers between 2011 and 2015. Some 39% of these declined claims resulted from a failure to notify in accordance with policy requirements or timeframes, or at all, followed by the claim being subject to a policy exclusion, at 31%.