Litigation is the top emerging claims issue for European insurers, according to the findings of a survey commissioned by The Insurance Leadership Institute of GE Insurance Solutions, which was independently conducted by Tillinghast.
Commenting on the report, titled "Facing the Future: Challenges for European P&C Insurers," GE Insurance Solutions chairman, president and chief executive Ron Pressman said: "It's interesting that the top emerging claims issues appear to be tort and litigiousness since they haven't been leading issues in Europe."
Escalating tort costs (58%) and increased litigiousness (55%) top the list of major claims issues expected to affect European insurers in 2004/2005.
"In the past, these issues have been seen primarily as
US-centric issues," Pressman added. "These findings have confirmed anecdotal observations of a seeming increase in court awards in the UK."
The European Executive Survey 2004 was conducted between March and July 2004. A total of 79 insurers responded - mainly small-to-medium-sized insurers operating in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia.
